Too much detail 1

In this and the next two posts I will examine ways in which dentists waste time and confuse patients.Often patients ask simple questions and dentists give long, convoluted replies.A simple enquiry like, "What's a root filling?" will frequently result in a 10-minute lecture complete with diagrams and brochures. The dentist will show the patient where the reamer goes and talk all about how the procedure is accomplished step-by-step.In all likelihood the patient merely wanted to know why they needed a root filling. The simple, straight forward answer is, to eliminate infection and save the tooth.Being verbose in our communication is a problem because it wastes time and annoys and confuses patients.Think twice before you launch into a long technical explanation of treatment to patients. See if what they really asked was much simpler. You might be surprised to find that the vast majority of patients could care less about the technical details of what we do.