AADOM DISTINCTIONcast – The Professionalism Reset
Course Description:
In today’s fast-paced dental environment, professionalism is more than appearance—it’s the foundation of trust, communication, and operational excellence. The Professionalism Reset equips dental teams with practical strategies to eliminate communication breakdowns, strengthen accountability, and elevate the patient experience.
This program introduces a “Direct-to-Source” communication culture, empowering teams to reduce workplace conflict, prevent triangulation, and improve efficiency through proven frameworks such as SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation). Attendees will also learn how to standardize verbal skills using “value-based vocabulary” to enhance patient trust and case acceptance.
From establishing clear digital and social media boundaries to implementing measurable accountability through KPIs, this course connects professional behavior directly to practice success. With actionable tools, scripts, and systems, participants will leave prepared to create a more predictable, respectful, and high-performing dental team.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify common sources of communication breakdown, including triangulation and communication silos, within a dental practice.
- Demonstrate the use of the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) framework to communicate clinical and administrative concerns effectively.
- Implement a “Direct-to-Source” communication protocol to resolve team conflicts and improve workflow efficiency.
- Differentiate between transactional and value-based language and apply value-driven vocabulary to enhance patient understanding and case acceptance.
- Apply standardized verbal skills and hand-off techniques to improve collaboration between clinical and administrative team members.
- Recognize appropriate professional boundaries related to digital communication and social media to maintain HIPAA compliance and protect the practice’s reputation.
- Develop at least one measurable Key Performance Indicator (KPI) related to professionalism and track its impact on individual or team performance.
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Chavelle: Hi everyone. My name is Chavelle, and I am AADOM’s Director of Membership and Education. And I am so excited to be introducing you to this DistinctionCast webinar. Today, we have someone very special that I’m gonna be introducing you to that is gonna be talking about The Professionalism Reset.
So, I’m so excited to introduce you to Stacey Singleton. She is a respected dental leader, educator, and consultant with 30 years of experience in the dental industry. She serves as the practice administrator for York County Pediatric Dentistry in Wells, Maine, and is the founder and dental director of Talk Teeth To Me, LLC, where she leads Maine Dental Board, approved dental radiology and Expanded Functions Dental Auxiliary or EFDA programs.
Stacey is a certified dental assistant, expanded functions dental auxiliary, published author, speaker, and trusted consultant dedicated to advancing dental teams through education, leadership development, and continuing education. She’s an active member of the American Association of Dental Office Management and has earned the organization’s highest distinction of Diplomat.
She’s also the founder and past president of the Maine Dental Leadership Coalition. Recognized for her passion in office culture, management excellence, and team development, Stacey was named Dental Assistant of the Year Runner-up in 2016 and Dental Office Manager of Distinction in 2023 and 2025.
She’s committed to helping dental professionals grow with confidence while elevating the future of dentistry in Maine and beyond. And I’m so excited to introduce you to Stacey.
Stacey: Hello, and thank you for having me.
I’m going to be presenting today on The Professional Reset: Setting the Standard for the High Performance Dental Team.
And as Chavelle described, a little bit about me and my experience. And talking teeth is my passion, so we will get into all things dentistry here.
Chain of Command and Communication Silos
The first thing is the chain of command and communication silos.
,So the goal is to eliminate sidestepping and ensuring that leadership is respected as the primary source of truth. Identifying where the triangulation happens.
An example: the assistant complaining to an administrative team member instead of going to their lead. We are shifting to a direct-to-source culture. This is important.
We try to implement a twenty-four-hour resolution rule. So, if something happens during the day, implement a policy where internal conflicts must be brought to the direct supervisor within twenty-four hours rather than being discussed in a venting session in the break room. This is how the office drama starts, and we really don’t wanna have that.
Another takeaway, the SBAR implementation. Require all staff to use SBAR, which is the Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation framework, which bringing a problem to leadership—this forces the team to offer a solution rather than just a complaint.
The open door, closed mouth policy. Training for leads on how to shut down the gossip immediately with the phrase, “Have you shared this directly with whoever that is yet?” Making sure that it gives some accountability on that framework.
What is SBAR?
So, talking about SBAR. Again, the situation, background, assessment, and recommendation. There’s a communication template.
If we have an example of a scenario where there’s an unscheduled emergency or a squeeze in. The front desk needs to fit in a patient with a broken tooth, but the clinical schedule is already tight. This never happens, I’m sure.
The situation: the what. We have a true emergency. Mrs. Higgins is in the lobby with a fractured number eight, and she’s in pain.
The background is the why. She is a long-time patient of record, but our next open emergency slot isn’t until 4PM, and she can’t wait that long.
The assessment is, “So what?” If we don’t see her now, she’d likely head to the ER, but op 3 is currently running ten minutes behind on a crown prep.
What’s the recommendation?
The how. I recommend we move the 2 o’clock prophy to op 4 so we can use op 3 for a quick palliative exam and a PA. Does that workflow work for your team?
So, we try to avoid making more interruptions than necessary. We wanna make sure that we accommodate everyone kind of at all costs, right?
So, we wanna make sure that we are going to see Mrs. Higgins. We take care of her issue. She feels cared for. But in turn, we’re communicating that throughout the office with the assistants and the doctor to make sure that the schedule can accommodate.
There’s no emotional language. Notice there is no, “I’m sorry to do this to you,” or, “The front desk messed up again.” It is purely data-driven.
Respecting expertise. The admin isn’t telling the assistant what to do. They are proposing a solution or the recommendation and asking for a professional buy-in. Does that work for your team?
Prevents sidestepping. By using this with the lead assistant first, the admin prevents the doctor from being interrupted mid-procedure with a scheduling conflict.
Another template. The scenario is the “insurance says it’s not covered” dispute. The patient is at the front desk refusing to pay for a buildup because their insurance company labeled it not medically necessary.
The situation is the what. Mr. Miller is at the desk and is refusing the total investment for the buildup on tooth number three because his insurance denied the claim.
The background is the why. We submitted the claim last month, but the insurance company downgraded the procedure, leaving him with a $250 balance that he didn’t expect.
The assessment is he’s threatening to leave the practice, and if we don’t provide a stronger clinical narrative or better photos, the claim will remain unpaid and the patient will lose trust.
The recommendation: I recommend we pull the intraoral photos from the day of treatment. Can you help me write a patient provider-centric narrative that explains the structural decay that required the buildup and then resubmit the appeal?
Include the patient in on that conversation. Explain what needs to be done and that what you’re doing on their behalf to try to get the claim paid. They will appreciate the communication.
Showing a united front with this. So, the admin isn’t blaming the clinical team for not taking good photos. They are identifying the assessment or the risk of losing the patient and asking for a recommendation or a better narrative.
A language check. Notice the use of total investment and clinical narrative instead of the bill or the notes.
Action-oriented. It moves the conversation away from why it happened in the past and towards how to fix it in the future.
Clinical and Administrative Verbal Skills
Some clinical administrative verbal skills. A united, a unified language that builds patient trust and clinical authority. Auditing the slang that devalues dental work. We are replacing a store language with practice language.
Actionable takeaways. The value vocabulary cheat sheet, which we will go over in just a second. Creating a desk side laminate that replaces cleaning with prevention specialist visit or waiting room with reception gallery and price and cost with investment.
Having a handoff script. A thirty-second standardized clinical handoff. Assistant to admin, “Mrs. Jones had a healthy checkup. Dr. Smith recommended a restoration on the lower right to protect her tooth from future fracture. I’ve updated the treatment plan. Can you help her find a time for that investment?”
So, it identifies what needs to be done, the patient’s hearing it again upon checkout, and then we’re saying investment and not cost upon checkout as well.
The ask the doctor buffer. Trains admins to never say, “I don’t know.” Instead, “That’s a great clinical question. Let me consult with the provider to get you the most accurate answer.” Patients appreciate that.
When it comes from the doctor, it’s always a different understanding than if you say the same exact thing to them. If it comes from the doctor, it’s a better answer.
Vocabulary Cheat Sheet
All right, so we have a couple of examples for these vocabulary cheat sheets.
Instead of saying your cleaning, wellness and prevention visit, and cleanings happen at a car wash. Wellness happens in a care facility. So we’re trying to change that mindset of the patient and how we’re portraying these things.
A filling. It’s a functional restoration. A filling sounds like a patch, and a restoration sounds intentional and skilled. We want them to buy into the investment of the dentistry that we’re educating them on.
Watching a spot. Let’s say monitoring for progression. Watching sounds passive. Monitoring reflects active and expert care.
Grinding it, or we could say we’re preparing the surface. Grinding feels abrasive. Preparing sounds precise and purposeful.
A quick X-ray. This is a hard one because we say this all of the time. But let’s try to shift to diagnostic image. A quick minimizes value. Diagnostic emphasizes clinical importance.
Waiting room. Let’s say reception gallery. Waiting suggests delay. Reception feels welcoming and intentional.
Ask the doctor. Consult with a provider. Asking sounds dependent. Consulting feels collaborative and professional.
Checking out. Finalizing your visit. Checking out is transactional. Finalizing sounds healthcare-centered. This is going to help with clinical excellence, the diagnostics, case acceptance, and operational authority.
Some more examples. Cancellations. Let’s say change in the schedule. If we’re calling someone due to a cancellation, it’s better to say that there was a change in the schedule. Cancellations sound casual. Change sounds more formal and less routine.
Insurance covers or benefit plan contributes. Covers implies a hundred percent. Contributes sets more accurate expectations.
Short-staffed or optimizing our workflow. Never communicate shortage. It can reduce patient confidence and trust.
Reminder call. A reminder call is what I wanna say all administration. We’ve always said this, a reminder call. But let’s try to say courtesy confirmations. Professionals don’t need reminders. They appreciate courtesies.
The cost or price. We’ll refer to it as a total investment. Cost feels lost. Investments suggest long-term value.
A huge hole. Significant loss structure. A hole sounds simple. Loss of structure supports the need for restorative care.
Does that hurt? Or are you feeling any pressure? Asking about pain can plant the idea of pain before it occurs.
Saying shot or needle or a localized sleep medication. I’m in a pediatric office, so we say sleepy juice all the time. Shot triggers fear. Sleep promotes comfort and calmness.
Digital and Social Media Boundaries
Something to discuss on professionalism is the digital and social media boundaries. So, protecting the practice’s reputation and HIPAA compliance in an era of oversharing.
Aligning personal digital footprints with the practice’s professional brand, specifically regarding clinical photos and a day in the life content.
Some takeaways.
The at handle protocol. If a staff are tagging the practice or posting from the operatories, they must follow a clinical cleanliness checklist. There should be no visible patient data, no open sharps containers, and full PPE compliance in every photo.
We have laminated sheets throughout our office that say that there is no, um, photos taken in the clinical area at all.
However, when parents do come up and ask, we do allow it to happen, but we do have a clearance sheet and social media consent just in case there is anything else around and there’s no other people in the photos as well. You have to make sure that the photo is cleared before, you know, people are taking them.
The patient first recording rule. A strict ban on personal phone use in clinical areas. All social content must be captured during designated content blocks or during lunch, never while a patient is in the building.
I would say this should be strongly advised unless you are specifically doing something on that particular patient for a social media post and it’s planned that way, but trying not to upset the workflow during the day to try to get social media content.
Having professionalism during an email. Standardizing signatures with firm but fair templates for patient follow-ups to ensure a unified voice that doesn’t sound casual or apologetic.
So, in all of our emails, we have signatures that you can customize. So, you should create different signatures for different situations so that you can reply easily to common answers that are coming across on a daily basis, especially with the admin team answering, you know, new patient questions and insurance questions.
Have those pre-generated so that it’s easier to just fill in the blanks for those common questions that come up. But you can utilize your signatures for that.
Accountability and KPI
Accountability and KPI ownership. So one of the most important things is moving from, “I just work here,” to, “I own my results.” It’s very hard to get your employees to have that investment, and you really should have plans in place to have accountability on what can we do so that our employees show investment in the social media part of the office, or wanting to order for the office, or wanting to redecorate or reorganize.
Anything like that is showing investment, and it gives your employees accountability. So, it’s definitely worthwhile to have the flexibility to allow that to happen in your office.
Connecting professional behavior to the bottom line. So professionalism equals predictability equals profit. And some of the takeaways with this is that your individual key performance indicator dashboard, each team member, your admin and your assistant, picks one professional KPI to track for 30 days.
An example, your assistant, the percentage of charts completed before the patient leaves. Your administrative team, the percentage of clean claims submitted daily.
So, you can almost make these KPIs into production contests, if you will. But it’s giving an investment of your team members that you’re sharing information of the practice, and then it gives them an understanding of why you’re looking at these numbers, why it’s important we’re keeping the schedule, you know, full or we’re double booking this way. That’s all done for a reason.
There are so many things that happen behind the scenes that your employees don’t necessarily need to know or get to see at all. They just understand that there’s those policies in place, and we have to abide by those. But when you are giving them some investment to do some of these reports and have that accountability, it gives them a respect for the office.
So, I think it’s important. And you can play a game out of it. You can make it so that they do have to create these reports and then compete with the next month, you know, how those numbers line up.
The shadow day swap. Have an assistant spend two hours at the front and an admin spend two hours in the back. The goal is to identify one friction point in the other’s workflow, and then they can help solve that. It also gives a good perception for each other.
When you have an assistant go up front and answer phones and have to answer patient questions in a whole different light than what they get out back, it gives them a good understanding of what the front is going through.
And then when the front goes out back and sees the flipping of the rooms and setting up for the rooms and what that all entails, not only treating your patient and triaging and having patient management skills, they have a whole new understanding of, “Oh, we can’t just squeeze in an emergency during this time slot because they might be doing X, Y, and Z on the patient.”
Because they’ve been back there, they’ve seen what’s going on, and they have a different respect for it. And it’s good to have the swap happen on a regular basis or even on a quarterly basis, just so it gives another set of eyes to the environment itself.
I always say, go out in the reception area and sit down and look around from a patient’s standpoint.
Have the clinical sit in the chair, look around from a patient standpoint because you miss things as the provider. You miss things as the administrative team that you don’t necessarily look at when you’re seeing it day in and day out from one perspective.
The performance-based bonus reset. Tying a portion of the bonus pool to the professionalism markers, like attendance or punctuality and adherence to the new communication SOPs.
So, this is more so a production, you know, bonus system, something like that. Or if you put in your goals for the KPI dashboard and you have those 30, 60, 90 day goals, you can make, again, a bonus out of that if that’s what your, you know, practice wants to do.
I’m not a huge advocate of, you know, consistent bonuses or quarterly bonuses. I like to have more of a positive culture throughout rather than just aiming for like one goal. But, that depends on your team and it depends on how, you know, the practice is set up. So that is a way to look at things and do the performance-based bonus.
Some closing thoughts is that when we talk about professionalism as a whole, I think that we have to make sure that we are reminded because we do this job day in and day out, you have to make sure that you lead with empathy and that you’re understanding these patients that are coming in every day are entrusting their care to you and we need to make sure we’re reminded of their mindset and what they’re seeing from their eyes and put yourself in their shoes, right?
It’s important. Professionalism isn’t about being stiff or formal. It’s about being predictable, reliable, and respectful of the high-level care we provide every day. It is the invisible extras we provide in every procedure. It’s what transforms a patient’s perception from paying for a filling to investing in their health. When we master our language and our handoffs, we aren’t just being polite, we are elevating the value of dentistry itself.
And along professionalism, it’s important not only with the patient, but for, you know, your coworkers as well. You have to have the mindset with your team as well as, as a manager or as a lead, or it doesn’t matter if you have a title or not.
It’s respect and it’s the way that you treat one another, and that’s what makes a cohesive team. That’s what makes a successful team and a growing team.
So, thank you. That is what I have, and you can visit my website. I have everything on the screen there, and if you have any questions, feel free to email me. I’m always happy to talk teeth.
Chavelle: Thank you so much, Stacey. That was great information. I do have some questions for you.
I know I loved the value vocabulary cheat sheet that you provided. Is that gonna be on your website at all on that QR code?
Stacey: I don’t have it on the QR code, but I can definitely email it for someone that is interested in having it.
Chavelle: That’d be great, ’cause I know you had mentioned, you know, all of those different words, and I know those are…I mean, everything in that first column are all things I’ve said as well, you know, being in dentistry for a long time as an assistant and as a, you know, front office team member and office manager.
Why should we stop using words like, you know, cleaning and start using wellness and prevention visits? Like, why is that important?
Stacey: I think that it is definitely a change in growth with our clientele base. I think that people are much more intrigued with the treatment that they’re getting, and everybody looks things up and everybody, you know, asks their friends and puts into Google and asks ChatGPT and whoever else.
And I think that it’s important to shift to a more patient-centric vocabulary, and those are things that they pick up on are the key words. And I think it makes, it shows the value better for the treatment.
Chavelle: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense because you’re right. I think you used a car wash as an example that, you know, you clean your car or you clean your house, but it’s definitely a lot different when you’re talking about, like, your wellbeing and your, um, overall health.
And so, you know, I loved all of the terms that you recommended. You did mention something, you know, you work in pediatric dentistry. And you had, I think, used the term sleepy juice.
So, you know, the terms that, you know, you have listed, of course those are probably more terms that you would use for adults or parents, but what are some examples? I know this is kind of, um, you know, off the top of your head, but what are other examples? You know, there’s a difference between talking to an adult versus talking to a child.
So what are some other examples of, you know, terms that maybe we should move away from using in pediatric dentistry for those of us who work in that specialty or work in a general practice who sees children that maybe have alternative words that you would recommend?
Stacey: Yeah. So great question because it’s, it comes up all the time from people that are—When I’m, when I’m teaching EFTAs they’re like, “How do you see kids all day?” You know, you’re… It’s a whole different it’s a, a whole different experience. And I was like, “That’s exactly it. It is an experience.”
And that’s the difference between having the adult in the chair that has the procedure, and then you have the child in the ca- in the chair, and you’re creating memories for them.
You’re creating an experience. So, we will say everything from the beginning of the appointment, we try to have it be fun. So we’re playing movies. They get to come in and pick out a movie. We do give nitrous in the office, and we call that happy air. So, they get to pick out a smell for their happy air, which comes in, you know, various smells: bubblegum, and strawberry, and chocolate. All different kinds of smells.
And then if they’re having any anesthetic, we will call that sleepy juice, and we will talk about their cheeks getting, you know, thick and heavy feeling. Something that is relatable for the kids, rather than textbook, you know? So they need to understand relatability.
So, we use our suctions and our high evacuations, but those are all Mister Thirsties. Things that, you know, are a little bit easier for them to understand.
And we have slow speed hand pieces. We call those tickle toothbrushes, which shakes, rattles, and rolls so then, you know, that makes it fun for them, too.
We do a lot of tell, show, do with the kids. So if you take a, a round bur on a slow speed and you just put it on their fingertip, and when you press, you know, your rheostat and it just kinda shakes their finger a little, they’re like, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” Um, and then you ask, “Okay, can, you know, I tickle your tooth with that?” And they are okay with that.
So same thing with when you’re doing sealants and you have your etch tip. It looks like a needle, which we don’t use, you know, so you wanna say that, you know, you have a, a tip of a pen and you’ll have a little ink that comes out, and you will show them on a piece of gauze, or cotton, and then they can see that.
And then the tip that the sealant material comes out of is like a little paintbrush, so you’ll take their finger and the tip of the, the brush and the bristles, and you’ll paint their nail just like you would with a paintbrush. And they make it… That’s accepting, you know. They’re like, “Oh, this isn’t bad at all.”
So I think getting on their level, talking in a way that they understand, has them accept the treatment. So with adults, you’re doing it in a more professional manner and shifting it so that they take value in what’s happening. And with the children, it’s, you have to make it so that they’re accepting of the actual treatment being done, you know?
So, just a little pivot points.
Chavelle: Yeah. And that’s great because I know, like, we want to steer away from using anything that could be triggering a negative experience. And so, I had worked in pediatric dentistry for a while, and I’d actually never heard of using the term, like for etch, like, oh my, like a tip of a pen and the ink is coming out.
So I love that. I’ve, I have never heard that one before, so I love that one. That’s great.
And, and that’s so true. Like, we, you know, you have to kind of gear the language around your audience, like you said, you know? And with kids it’s a little bit different ’cause you wanna make sure that they’re comfortable.
Yeah. That’s great.
Can we go back to, I know you had mentioned the SBAR communication framework, but can you just kind of like briefly re-go over those four steps of what SBAR stands for and what those steps are?
Stacey: Yeah, absolutely. So, SBAR is Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation. And what that means is that you want to kind of take your step, take yourself out of the situation and look at it. Look at it as an overview, okay? Evaluate the situation.
Before you make a decision, look at the background of what’s happening. Okay, what got you to that situation. And then how you’re going to assess at that moment, all the information.
So everything that has been given to you and what you present with, you have the background, and now you’re evaluating what is it exactly that’s happening.
And then from there, you’re going to make the informed decision or the recommendation. So in those examples, it’s kind of the what, why, you know, and how. Same type of thing and just pivoting more so in a professional manner.
Chavelle: That’s great. It’s nice to have kind of that structure of being able to, like you said, kind of step back and, and really, like, assess before taking action on something. ‘Cause I know sometimes even myself included, or managers in general, we, as humans, can react before, like, thinking through things.
And so it is kind of nice to have that step back and say, “Okay, what’s, you know, what’s going on? You know, what’s happened in the past? What could potentially, you know, happen if we do or don’t do something or react on something?”
And then coming in with solutions. I know especially, you know, with our field and industry, we’ve got such a wide range of,myou know, generations and ages and, you know, the way people handle things are so different.
You know, just even with, like, my own kids, you know? It’s nice to be able to have some sort of structure to teach new team members that are coming in, like, “Hey, as you join our team, this is how we deal with things that happen or that come up in the office.”
‘Cause I know some people are not comfortable, you know, going to someone right away if something, you know, happens or confronting someone, because they’re afraid of confrontation.
But I think, you know, by being able to do that assessment, like you mentioned, it kind of gives people perspective a little bit before jumping into a conversation or just getting them to think before they speak or act. So, I really like how you broke that down.
Stacey: Yeah. Thank you. And with that, going back to the unscheduled emergency, we have, like, emergency call templates in the office.
So, we have probably about 8 or 10 questions that we ask the parent on the situation. What happened, you know, during this situation? How did we get there?
And then it goes through a whole triage of questions so that the admin team is well-informed of getting the background, what the situation is, and they’re kind of doing a triage assessment over the phone before we’re making a recommendation on where to put them in the schedule.
So, it’s, again, giving accountability to your team, right? They don’t have to come and ask clinical every step of the way. You know, they should have that decision-making to say, “Okay, I know that this is an emergency. I have the template filled out. Let’s put them in, and this is, would be the ideal spot in the schedule.”
Morning huddles—very important time to go over if an emergency arises, where do we put that patient, you know, in the schedule? And making sure that everyone’s on the same, you know, chain of attack there when we’re talking, “Okay, we know that at 11:30 and at 3:30, during those times we’ll have an extra assistant or we’ll have, you know, a little bit of overflow time where we could put the emergencies.”
And then the front knows, okay, during that time we’ll have some accessibility to do so. So then they’re not coming back and asking when they get that phone call where to put the patient. They’ve already filled out SBAR. They know, you know, what the history is, and they can put the patient in accordingly, so.
Chavelle: Yeah. Absolutely. And, it avoids any, like, uncomfortable conversations with parents, like if they really didn’t need to come in or make an appointment, if it was something that could be handled, you know, from home or, you know, anything like that.
And we know that a lot of front office team members maybe come without dental experience, so they may not know what questions to ask or what information to gather, and so I think that is really helpful.
And you’d mentioned having kind of like a laminated cheat sheet or something, you know, next to them to be able to have so they know exactly what to ask I think is really helpful, too.
Stacey: Yep. Yeah, I find that very helpful at the desk so that they can just kinda slide it out from underneath their keyboard. And if it’s an emergency, they already have a template right then and there.
We also have templates within our software that we’ve come up with, too, so then if the phone call comes in and it’s emergency, they can just click the template and it’s already pre-generating the note so that they can fill it in, and then they’re not having to go back and type the notes in after.
So, that’s a good way to, you know, utilize your system, too.
Chavelle: Yeah, that’s great.
Strengthening Case Acceptance Through Provider-Led Communication and Team Alignment
You’d mentioned, um, provider-centric handoffs and how it increases case acceptance. Can you go over that just a little bit more on how it actually does increase case acceptance by having that provider-centric handoff?
Stacey: Yeah. So, I find that making sure in that situation when we are talking about, you know, making sure we’re following up on an insurance claim and that they have everything that is needed. They have the periapical already taken. They have the intraoral photos taken of the broken tooth.
And when we put, again, a little more pressure on the doctor or the lead assistant, something like that, to communicate with the patient on the importance and educating on the broken tooth or what needs to happen, I think that that provider itself is going to gain respect from the patient if it’s coming directly from the provider.
So, rather than you having the assistant say, “This is what happens.” You know, the doctor looked at the PA, the doctor said to the assistant, “This is what needs to happen.” The assistant goes in, treatment plans that, okay, it needs to be a crown. They take the intraoral photo, they take the pre-op PA, and then they walk the patient out front and say, “Yes, we need to do a crown on this tooth. It broke for Mr. Johnson, and, you know, Dr. Smith is saying that this is what needs to happen.”
But Dr. Smith never went in and talked to the patient to explain what transpired, and we lose sight of that sometimes because of the busyness of everything. And I think it needs to get back to patient-focused and provider-centric so that the provider is the one relaying this is the treatment that needs to be done.
And then the assistant can go over, you know, specifically the procedure itself. But the provider needs to go over what his recommendation is, and it needs to come from him so that the patient has value in that.
You know, the doctor is saying, “This is what needs to happen, and this is why.” And then the handoff can happen to the assistant that can, or the hygienist that can go over the rest of the procedure. But it needs to come from the doctor so that, you know, the patient respects that.
Chavelle: Yeah. I agree with you. I think, you know, even putting ourselves in the patient’s shoes, like you had mentioned, is important.
You know, we want our providers to spend time, you know, enough time with each patient to explain, you know, what their findings are, you know, what their recommendations are, and then, you know, be able to kind of plan the treatment together with the patient so the patient feels involved and kind of in the know, versus hearing it secondhand is really, you know, important to, to make sure that the doctor has that connection.
And I know sometimes our offices can be, you know, busy and the doctor has to go from, you know, one patient to the next. But it doesn’t always have to be a long, drawn-out conversation. And I think that’s where it is really important that if the doctor does take that time to kind of tee things up, you know, for the assistant, you know, like just being able to go over the information with the patient of what the recommendations are, and then knowing that the dental assistant can then answer any additional questions that the patient has.
And always knowing that the doctor is there in the event they think of anything else that the assistant, you know, can’t answer, you know, that it’s not an inconvenience, you know, that they’re gonna be there if they, if the patient does have any additional questions.
Because we do look at the doctors as, of course, the experts, you know? Since they’re the ones who have the education, have, you know, are gonna be doing the treatment, that we wanna make sure that the patients feel 100% confident in knowing what the doctor is recommending for their care. So, um, I totally agree.
Stacey: Yeah, and I think that even with, you know, when we kinda talked about the kids for a minute there. And some of the adults, you know, and this is where it comes into having a good team and good assistants, being able to read your patients.
And some of those adults may need to get treated a little differently, you know? So that we’re saying we might have to do a tell-show-do with some of those adult patients like we do with the kids, because we need them to grasp and understand the education part of it, why we’re doing it, and the procedure itself.
So, sometimes you have to pivot a little bit and know how to, you know, sell the dentistry because that’s what we’re doing, you know? We’re educating to sell the dentistry. And you have to have a good team that understands that and understands what’s behind it.
And if we have to do a tell-show-do with an adult so that they understand the importance of the crown, then that’s what we need to do, you know?
Chavelle: Yeah. And I do think too, you know, like kind of circling back to educating, you know, the patients is making sure that every team member, clinical team members, whoever’s going over the treatment, that, you know, they partner with the doctor, whether it’s in a team meeting or like you mentioned, huddle is super important.
Or when it’s, when they’re first onboarding, that the assistants know exactly how the doctors want them to explain treatment. ‘Cause every doctor is different too.
So, as assistants move from one office to another or one provider to another, getting on the same page as the provider and making sure that they’re delivering the exact same message that the doctor would to the patient, so there’s no discrepancies in what the message is, you know, what procedures, you know, they’re recommending, how it’s gonna go, you know, all those things.
And then, you know, not devaluing what the doctor just spent time treatment planning. Making sure that we’re not using those terms that you had mentioned, to devalue, ’cause I know like it can be so easy to revert back.
So always kind of staying on top of making sure that we’re holding our team members as managers accountable, the doctors also. Making sure that the dental assistants are delivering the message that they want to the patient appropriately.
And then always doing like touch bases too, because I know it’s so easy to revert back. So always making sure that we’re staying on top of making sure we’re getting the message across the way that the doctor wants us to.
Stacey: Yeah.
Something, another kind of little key point that we do that I’d recommend for a lot of offices that I’ve worked with is that you should sit down as a team and collaborate on the top 10 questions that the hygienist, the assistants, the admin team, what are the top questions that you’re asked every day, right?
I want everybody to put it all out there. We write it down. Um, we did index cards. So, everybody in each department wrote their, you know, top 3 questions that they are asked day in and day out.
And then they handed all of those in to me. I completed all of those questions, compiled them all together. I sat down with the doctor, and he answered all of those questions the way that he would like them answered in the office.
And then when they turned in, I had asked them to answer them as well. So, we had a list of all the doctor’s answers, and then I had a list of how they’re being answered in the office.
So then we merged them, and we came up with that answer for each common question on how we’re going to answer as a team so that we’re all answering the questions the same exact way.
It really helped a lot, and it helped expedite some of the hygiene exams and things like that too because each hygienist had been there, you know, for a long time. But when we look at it, let’s make sure that we’re all on the same page and saying the same thing, and it helped.
You know, the doctor’s answer collaborated with, you know, what we’ve been saying, so it just merged, and we had nice short answers for each common question.
And then we share those, and we go back to those frequently and say, “Okay, where are we at?” We’ll read them again, make sure that we’re all on the same page. If we have new hires, I have those common questions and answers already printed and have it in the new hire packet so that they’re aware, you know, that these are the common questions and how we’re answering them and the verbiage that we should be using.
Chavelle: I love that idea. That’s actually really great.
Stacey: Thank you. Yeah.
Chavelle: I love that. That gives, and that gives, you know, anyone watching this webinar some ideas too maybe for their next team meeting to ask their team members.
Because I’m sure there’s probably a lot of, you know, managers out there or team members out there that may not necessarily be on the same page or don’t know that they may be answering a question, you know, not to the same caliber or the same, you know, way that everybody else is or that the doctors want them to.
And so, I think that’s a great opportunity to make sure that everyone is aligned. And yeah, make sure everyone’s on the same page of how they deliver information.
Stacey: It helps with what I was talking about earlier about the swap. It helps with that as well because it is something that some of the hygienists might, might not be aware that some of the common questions up front, you know, are being asked and how they’re being answered because they’re not hearing them. They’re not hearing those questions.
So it gives a little bit of, again, a perception for each person’s position, you know, too.
Chavelle: That’s great.
Well, thank you so much, Stacey, for all of the information. There was so much that I even learned and some new things, you know, that I think, you know, a lot of managers can definitely implement in their practices.
And there was a lot of terms that were new to me that I could even use myself on, you know, kind of flipping the script a little bit on saying things, you know, a lot more professionally or to be able to add more value to patient conversations, that I think this was wonderful. Thank you so much for going over this professionalism reset with all of us.
And, I’m so thankful that you spent this hour with us. Thank you so much.
And, like Stacey had mentioned, if you are interested in getting some additional information, I know she had had her QR code up in her slides. Definitely check her website out to gather some additional information, take some snapshots of all of the great value vocabulary, cheat sheet that she provided.
And yeah, we will see you guys next time. Thank you so much, AADOM. We will see you guys again soon. Thank you, Stacey.
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Learn About Our Presenter:
Stacey Singleton, DAADOM, EFDA
Stacey Singleton is a respected dental leader, educator, and consultant with 30 years of experience in the dental industry. She serves as the Practice Administrator for York County Pediatric Dentistry in Wells, Maine, and is the Founder & Dental Director of Talk Teeth 2 Me, LLC, where she leads Maine Dental Board–approved Dental Radiography and Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary (EFDA) programs.
Stacey is a Certified Dental Assistant, Expanded Function Dental Auxiliary, published author, speaker, and trusted consultant dedicated to advancing dental teams through education, leadership development, and continuing education. She is an active member of the American Association of Dental Office Management (AADOM) and has earned the organization’s highest distinction, Diplomate. She is also the Founder and past-President of the Maine Dental Leadership Coalition.
Recognized for her passion for office culture, management excellence, and team development, Stacey was named Dental Assistant of the Year runner-up in 2016 and Dental Office Manager of Distinction in 2023 & 2025. She is committed to helping dental professionals grow with confidence while elevating the future of dentistry in Maine and beyond.
