As a dentist, providing your patients with high-standards of care is always your priority. Being able to ensure they feel confident in your skills and ability is vital for patient satisfaction. Communicating effectively is a fantastic way to do this, as it will make sure that they fully understand their diagnosis and treatment plan, and will help them feel comfortable and confident in proceeding with treatment. Good communication will also be extremely useful for particularly nervous patients, as this will help them to feel in control and involved in the discussion.
Dental anxiety
Dental fear and anxiety are widespread problems in the UK with approximately 25% of adults reporting delays in visiting the dentist due to dental anxiety.[i] Communication can be difficult for some patients when receiving dental treatment, as they may find it hard to understand the jargon and the complexities of their treatment plan. This may leave patients feeling out of control, which could worsen feelings of anxiety.i It is important to do all you can to help nervous patients feel at ease in your practice, as this will help to prevent negative experiences and reduce the numbers who stop attending dental appointments due to anxiety. This is important as delaying dental appointments and treatments will make them more likely to suffer detrimental effects to their oral health.i And, this begins the cycle of dread as the longer patients go without a checkup, the more likely there is to be an undetected problem.
Patient satisfaction
Prioritising positive experiences in your dental practice is essential, and will benefit both you and your patients. This will help to ensure that they return for regular appointments, and help to reduce dental anxiety as they build a good relationship with their dentist and dentistry itself through repeated exposure. Research suggests that patient’s dissatisfaction with their dental practice and unhappiness with their dentist were the main causes for switching.[ii] So, maintaining positive relationships with them will encourage good patient retention and benefit their oral health as well as your business.
Clear communication with your patients is the key to providing a positive experience. All patients will appreciate being well informed about their oral health, and an open conversation will give them the space to ask questions and raise concerns. This communication is also necessary for a patient to give consent,[iii] so you should be sure to discuss the treatment itself, and what will be required of them for a successful outcome – for example, maintaining good oral hygiene – to make sure they are prepared to go forward with treatment. This is also helpful for managing patient’s expectations of treatment outcomes, as they may have an elevated idea of what their outcome will be, so clear communication at every stage will help to avoid disappointment.
Improve patient experiences
The ability to offer a range of services and treatments will be appealing for both current and potential patients. And, using high-quality technology and equipment in your practice could be very beneficial. This offers your patients the convenience of receiving treatments entirely from your practice, without the need to refer out, saving time, and minimising the need to travel elsewhere for a solution. Having access to reliable equipment in your own practice is not only convenient, but will help you to improve your workflows allowing for accurate diagnosis, treatment planning, and predictable outcomes. Plus, technology which provides a clear visual will make communication easier, as you’ll have the ability to show your patients areas of concern. This will help nervous individuals to feel that they are in safe hands, improving patient satisfaction.
The CS 8100 3D CBCT system from Carestream Dental is versatile and budget friendly, utilising both 2D and 3D scanning to produce clear images to aid in diagnosis and treatment planning. It’s compact, intuitive, and smart design makes it easy to implement into any dental practice. The ability to produce high-quality scans in your own practice will be convenient for both you and your patient – saving time, supporting your work, and providing certainty in diagnosis and treatment planning. The ability to provide access to high-quality facilities will be a valuable addition to your practice.
When considering how to improve patient experiences in your practice, it’s important to consider both what you as a professional, and your practice, can offer to elevate standards of patient care. Comprehensive discussions with your patients about their oral health will help to make them feel more comfortable in the dental practice. And, using high-quality equipment will not only help dental appointments run smoothly, but will also allow you to utilise software as a tool to help explain treatment processes to them in depth. All of this will help reduce their anxiety, leading to happier, satisfied patients who will return again and again.
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Author:
Nimisha Nariapara is the Trade Marketing Manager at Carestream Dental covering the UK, Middle East, Nordics, South Africa, Russia and CIS regions. She has worked at Carestream Dental for the past 7 years, where she has developed her marketing skills and industry knowledge to bring the core values and philosophy of the company to the market.
[i] Humphris, G., and Kristel King. “The prevalence of dental anxiety across previous distressing experiences.” Journal of anxiety disorders 25.2 (2011): 232-236. https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/1644/Humphris_King_2010_prepub.pdf?sequence=1
[ii] Newsome, P. R. H., and Gillian H. Wright. “A review of patient satisfaction: 2. Dental patient satisfaction: an appraisal of recent literature.” British dental journal 186.4 (1999): 166-170.
[iii] Freeman, Ruth, and Gerry Humphris. Communicating in dental practice: stress-free dentistry and improved patient care. Vol. 30. Quintessence Publishing Company Limited, 2019. https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Giu6DwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=improving+patient+experiences+dental+UK&ots=9VIw87ErwZ&sig=0f64eGtGEo3gLzIDsK6zzB5wFVA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=improving%20patient%20experiences%20dental%20UK&f=false
