AADOM LIVEcast: Going BIG with Ortho in Your Dental Practice
Approved for 1 CE towards AADOM Designations when viewed in AADOM’s Learning Management System.
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Video Description:
This course can have a long-lasting impact on the growth of orthodontic treatment inside the general dental practice. The course provides a foundational approach built around speaking the consumer’s language, with high-level communication and education skills. Implementing ideas in this program is not for a short term benefit but a lasting impact on your practice’s ability to start patients with clear aligners.
Course Learning Objectives:
In this course, key strategies will be shared to begin the journey toward increased clear aligner ortho starts in your dental practice. We’ll explore how to engage the new and re-care patients using effective verbiage and education skills.
- The discussion will look at the use of technology to tell the story of misalignment and how it’s impacting the patient’s oral health situation… not to mention smile esthetics.
- A big part of moving the patient’s mind toward treatment acceptance is through consumer psychology. As consumers, we are influenced by how a message is shared with us to make us appreciate and purchase a product. The same is true in dentistry and health care.
- Presenting financial investment options can be a stumbling block for many dental practices and treatment coordinators. This presentation will spend time looking at verbal skills and presentation tools, combined with consumer psychology, to engage the patient in a practical solution.
Sponsored by: AcceptCare/OrthoFi
Going Big with Ortho in Your Dental Practice
Understanding dental patients’ mindset is essential to delivering the best care and fostering growth in your practice, particularly when presenting orthodontic treatment.
Dental patients have a variety of motivations, fears, and expectations that influence their decision-making process.
By aligning your practice’s approach with patient perspectives, you can build a stronger narrative around oral health and function, ultimately increasing orthodontic treatment acceptance rates.
Dental Patient Motivations and How We Flip the Narrative
Some dental patients seek treatment for health reasons, and others for aesthetic improvements. While the reason for seeking treatment often varies greatly, there is one common thread with nearly every patient:
Fear.
Many patients fear the pain, cost, or time commitment required for dental procedures, and these fears can be a significant barrier to accepting treatment. This is especially true when a patient sees the procedure as purely cosmetic, with no real health benefits. To counter this fear, dental professionals need to provide patients with the full story.
Teeth that fit together correctly need less dental work over a lifetime. Misaligned teeth lead to various oral health issues, such as incisal wear, gum inflammation, and tooth decay. When we fail to educate patients on the importance of alignment, we miss the opportunity to help them achieve a lifetime of healthier teeth.
To increase patient motivation and treatment acceptance, flip the narrative from purely cosmetic concerns to a focus on oral health and function. Patients who understand that their motivation for a more aesthetically pleasing smile aligns with health benefits are more likely to pursue treatment.
The Importance of the Same-Day Start
When presenting ortho treatment, a same-day treatment mindset fosters a more efficient and patient-centered practice. Using this model, your team can capitalize on patients’ immediate motivation, reduce the likelihood of no-shows or delays, and enhance overall treatment acceptance rates.
Additionally, same-day starts streamline your workflow, maximizing the use of time and resources. A quick treatment start can increase revenue by reducing gaps in the treatment schedule.
Preparing Your Practice for Clear Aligner Growth
To successfully grow the acceptance of ortho treatment or clear aligners in your practice, you must create a unified passion across your team. Start by training together to build a consistent message using resources and branding that enhance patient education and motivation. Tools like 3D scanning, occlusal grams, outcome simulators, and intraoral photos are invaluable for visually demonstrating the benefits of alignment to patients.
It is also important that your team understands how malocclusion, or tooth misalignment, can significantly affect oral health. The cause-and-effect relationships are clear: teeth out of position lead to problems like recession, gum inflammation, and broken crowns. By assessing malocclusion through arch form, tooth inclination, and canine guidance, you can better understand how to address these issues and you will be better prepared to explain them to your patients.
Once your team understands the importance of malocclusion and the effects of misalignment, effective communication is critical to helping patients understand the consequences of ignoring their dental health. The PCS (Problem/Consequence/Solution) communication model, combined with clinical images and scans, can powerfully impact patient motivation and treatment acceptance. Engage patients by addressing their concerns, pointing out potential problems, and offering solutions that emphasize long-term health.
Presenting Financial Options with Open Choice
Understanding consumer psychology is crucial in today’s dental landscape. Patients want flexible financial options that align with their buying behavior outside the dental office.
By partnering with financial institutions like AcceptCare, you can offer streamlined communication strategies that simplify the decision-making process for patients, making it easier for them to say yes to treatment.
To facilitate financial discussions, practices should confidently present treatment costs using Open-Choice™ payment options on a single, easy-to-understand screen tailored to each patient. A practice can also enhance the financing experience by offering instant access to a multi-lender network that covers all credit levels with no credit impact to apply. Providing guaranteed complete-care approvals for patients across all credit levels ensures a quick and stress-free acceptance process.
Managing Pending Patient Re-Engagement
It is also important to manage re-engagement effectively for patients who are hesitant about a same-day start or need additional time to consider treatment. Automated pending treatment follow-ups sent via email or SMS can convert an additional 24% of patients within 30 days post-consult. Automated reminders lighten the workload for staff and ensure pending treatment stays top of mind for patients until their decisions are made.
Fostering Long-Term Growth
You can significantly increase treatment acceptance by building your practice’s narrative around oral health and function, understanding your patients’ motivations and fears, and offering flexible financial solutions. Preparing your practice for ortho treatment or clear aligner growth—and effectively communicating the importance of alignment—will benefit your patients and foster long-term growth in your practice.
Learn about the presenter:
Eric Fields is a distinguished professional at New Patient Group, where he serves as Managing Partner, Chief Operations Officer, and Lead Implementation Coach. With over 20 years of healthcare experience, including key roles at Align Technology, Johnson & Johnson, and Schering-Plough, Eric has developed extensive expertise in sales, communication, and presentation skills. His passion is educating and empowering others, especially in often-overlooked areas such as hospitality, sales fundamentals, objection handling, and value-based communication.
Based in Omaha, Nebraska, Eric is dedicated to fostering skill development and confidence among healthcare professionals. He shares his life with his wife Lori, to whom he has been married for nearly 25 years, and their three daughters, Emma, Amelia, and Elaina. Outside of his professional endeavors, Eric enjoys relaxing on the lake, cruising on his pontoon with a cold drink in hand, and soaking up the sunshine and good vibes