March 5, 2025 • 18 mins
This episode delves into the vital role of visual aids in enhancing patient understanding and acceptance in dental practices. We explore various methods and strategies that allow dental professionals to effectively communicate treatment options, ensuring clarity and confidence in patient decisions.
• Discussing the cognitive advantages of visual aids in patient care
• Sharing creative techniques for using visual aids in the office
• Exploring the positive impact of visual aids on patient engagement and trust
• Offering insights into common pitfalls of verbal communication
• Challenging listeners to create customized visual tools for their practices
Create visual aids for better patient understanding and watch your acceptance rates soar!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Some studies say that people remember 65% of visual
information and only 10% of whatthey hear, so you need to be
maximizing the amount ofconcepts you can use visual aids
for when explaining things topatients.
Today, I'm going to shareeverywhere in my office
currently that I createdadditional visual aids to help
explain complex topics, do moreelective treatment and get more
(00:25):
patients saying yes to myrecommendations.
I know that a few of theseyou're probably already doing,
but I guarantee you that you'renot doing all of them.
You are listening to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast, where
we teach you how to work three,two, one or even zero clinical
days a week, take more time offand make more money than ever.
I'm your host, dr Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental
(00:48):
practice management, dentalcoach and owner of a large group
practice in the south suburbsof Chicago.
I want practice owners like youto experience all the greatness
that can come from asystematized and team-managed
office.
So let me know if you canrelate to this.
This is probably within thefirst year out of school.
(01:08):
I'm trying to explain what abridge is to a patient and it
goes like this, and I foundmyself doing this a lot when I
got out of school.
You have a very simple concept.
It is a bridge, it is aporcelain piece that contains
three teeth and it extends fromone tooth across an edentulous
space to the other space.
You're probably listening to mesaying yeah, that's pretty
(01:30):
simple.
Everybody knows what a bridgeis, but how do you explain it?
This is how I used to explainit.
Ok, I would get my two fists uplike this and I have them up in
front of me.
So here's the one tooth, thespace is in between, and here's
the other tooth.
And what we're going to make iswe're going to make one piece
of porcelain that's going to gofrom one side to the other side.
And now I don't have three arms, so, like when I'm holding my
two teeth in the air, I can'tshow where the bridge is going.
(01:53):
And I had a patient ask me like,I don't get it, like is that
the top of the tooth?
And I said what do you mean?
Like the gum line top, or doyou mean like the, the biting
surface, top, dude, I mean thetop.
And so he goes no, the, thebiting surface.
We say the biting surface.
I go oh, he's like I don't getthis.
(02:14):
Like what?
What is it the bottom or thetop teeth?
And I'm like dude, it's.
I guess it's well, I'm talkingabout your top teeth, but I'm
holding it in the way like it'sa bottom tooth and he's like,
okay, so where are the roots?
And I'm just like dude bro.
And then finally he said to mehe's like dude, I'm so sorry,
I'm lost.
I know you're trying to show mewith your hands, but I feel
like you're just doing the YMCAover here.
And that's when it hit me whatthe hell am I doing, like?
(02:40):
And I have so many patients thatI do this with and they don't
say anything and they probablydon't understand.
But they just don't wanna saylike, they don't wanna stop me
and say, hey, I don't know whatyou're talking about.
It is a complex topic.
It's much easier just to showthem a picture, show them a
model, and that's the way I doit now.
And there's so many places inour dental offices where we can
(03:04):
utilize visual aids.
It would make things so mucheasier.
And think about it If thepatient is confused, they're not
going to say yes.
So we want them to understandwhat they're getting into.
And the last thing we want iswhen we do treatment on somebody
and they're just like what thehell was that?
I didn't know we were doingthat.
You ever prep somebody for abridge?
And they're like, why are youshaving my teeth down?
(03:24):
And you're just like are youstupid?
Like what the hell are youtalking about?
Are you being serious?
This is the type of stuff thatwe're trying to avoid.
I don't care how well youexplain how a bridge, you have
to destroy enamel and how animplant is independent of the
adjacent teeth.
It makes so much more sensejust to show a picture and point
(03:45):
at it.
Let's go around the office,let's talk about how we use
these.
I hope I give you some greatideas for this.
So around the office, in thewaiting room, I have one TV that
is playing.
You know it's just like playinglike HDTV.
Whatever's on, you know we'llhave the news on something like
that.
So it's just run that.
But above our door, going intoour clinical area, is another
(04:07):
big screen that's playing alooped PowerPoint presentation
and what's on there is picturesfrom team events.
There are some slides that saynice stuff like your comfort is
our priority, just littlebranding things.
Because I find that if youplant that seed in the patient's
brain.
They'll be like man.
They really care.
So little statements like that.
There is before and aftersshowing like smile makeovers.
(04:29):
They're showing like Invisalign.
We're advertising Botox.
We're showing that we do oralcancer screenings.
So there's so many things thatwe can show the patients, and as
long as we mix in some funpictures, like from team outings
, or pictures of the doctor andtheir kids, things like that the
patients will look at this, andso it's a way of letting them
(04:50):
know the things that we dowithout having to verbally tell
them what we do, and it's also away of letting them know that
we're different from otheroffices and this is who our
brand is.
So it's a very simple thing todo.
I just bought an old laptop fromlike the refurb from eBay and
it's just running a repeatPowerPoint.
Now people are saying why doyou have to put it on a
PowerPoint?
You don't.
(05:10):
You can just put it on a flashdrive and stick it in the side
of the TV.
I just find it's a lot easierto update if it's a PowerPoint
file rather than just draggingpictures.
So that's why All right theother things in the waiting room
.
How about some awards?
You ever win one of thosereally prestigious awards where
they say, hey, you won thisaward.
If you send me $300, we'll sendyou an award.
(05:32):
Man, I win those every yearbecause, dude, our office is so
freaking awesome, we always winit.
Do you guys win that too?
I buy those awards.
I know that seems so cheesy,but I'm telling you, the
patients see them and it makes adifference.
I don't buy them every year, Ibuy them every other year.
So it's always like we eitherwon this year, the year before,
(05:56):
or we're going to win next yearbecause I don't want, I don't
feel like I have to buy themevery year, but I would buy one
about every other year.
And sometimes they're plaquesand sometimes they're awards and
they're just kind of set aroundall over the office.
I think it makes a difference.
So I remember going to a doctorwhen I was like 16 and being
like, wow, chicago's bestdoctors.
Whoa, that's a big deal, sweet,all right.
(06:17):
Sponsorships.
Do you sponsor teams and dothey like send you like a
picture?
Do you have any plaques showingthat?
We have a section of our wallin our waiting room that has a
bunch of?
We sponsor softball andbaseball teams, so we have a
section that has that andbaseball teams, so we have a
section that has that.
Anything you can show thatyou're active in your community.
I think it makes a bigdifference in the brand.
So put these visual remindersto your patients that you are a
(06:37):
legit office that cares.
All right, let's move on to whatwe can do in the operatory.
First of all, the obvious oneis using intraoral cameras and
making sure that you have a wayto show it to the patient so
that they don't have to turnaround.
I think this day and age that'spretty common, so most people
have that by now.
But if you don't, that's themost basic one You've got.
(06:59):
Seeing is believing.
The patient has to see what wesee.
So get intraoral cameras inevery single operatory.
I don't get anything frommouthwatch.
That's just what we use.
We have a mouthwatch camera inevery single op and when it
breaks we throw it away and webuy a new one.
But I think the image qualityis really good in those and I
like them All right.
Digital x-rays this is kind of ano brainer, but I wanted to add
(07:21):
a little caveat to it is thatwe've just started using, like
the AI stuff and it colors onthe x-rays man.
It is really cool to visuallyshow patients' bone loss and
it's really cool to visuallyshow the existing restorations
one color and show decay inanother color.
So I just wanted to share that.
We found that very helpful.
We're still integrating thisusing the AI, x-rays and stuff
(07:45):
like that, but so far, so good.
It's been really helpful.
All right, the wallpaperbackground.
Now this is what I mean.
When you walk into myoperatories, we have the TV on
the wall and we have it set upso that it's showing the
computer Now on the computer.
It'll eventually switch to a TVthat they'll watch.
When the patient walks into theoperatory, I want it set on the
(08:06):
computer because I don't wantany sound and I want them to see
that little wallpaper Okay, thedesktop wallpaper that shows
our logo and it has a littletagline underneath it.
Experience the difference.
I think that little touch pointmakes such a big deal.
I know some people that havegone as far as they will set up
(08:29):
the screensaver and it'll saywelcome and it'll say the
person's name.
So I think that's a nice littletouch too.
You know, take advantage ofevery single opportunity.
All right, in the operatorieswe have one poster.
Now, I don't think you shouldclutter up your operatories.
I don't like that.
I don't like clutter, I like itclean.
I like less things.
Less is more.
But in every single operatorywe have something advertising
Botox.
Just, we have somethingadvertising Botox, just like a
(08:49):
little like two by three, youknow, two foot by three, foot
printed, nice graphic.
Hey, we do the Botox here.
This is what you can expect,very simple, and the reason we
do that with Botox is Botox is avery difficult thing to look
someone in the eye and say youever thought about Botox?
And they're like dude, I'm herefor my teeth, don't talk about
(09:10):
my wrinkles.
It Botox and they're like dude,I'm here for my teeth, don't
talk about my wrinkles.
It's like you go getliposuction and someone's like
you ever think about doing afacelift?
It's like no, that's not whatI'm here for.
So we wanted to have let themknow that we did Botox as a
dental office.
That's how we got it off theground.
A lot of people ask questions.
It's a very it's an easy way ofgetting that off the ground.
I would also do All right beforeand after photos.
(09:37):
I think you should have theseon one folder on your computers.
We have it in a folder on ourserver so we can pull it up in
any computer.
But you know, I used to have itwhere they were all very
organized very well, andsometimes I could go to like I
could open up one folder andthere would be, like you know,
four pictures of this procedure.
Maybe it was a diastema closureor something like that.
And then maybe I had anotherfolder of veneers.
(09:58):
I had another full folder oflike prepped, like full mouth
cases, and what I found, justserendipitously and being
unorganized, is that it makes agreat impression if you have one
giant folder with everything inthere, so that when you go, oh,
let me find this case, I willbring that folder right in front
of the patient so they can seeall the cases.
(10:20):
Now, they're small, they're likethumbnail size and windows, but
when I find the case I want toshow them.
I want them to see that Iscrolled past so many other
cases.
Oh, where is it Gosh?
We do so many of these.
I really have to organize thisfolder.
That's what I say every time.
So put them in a folder, youknow.
Organize them so that you canfind what you need, but also
(10:42):
make sure that all thesepictures are cropped nice.
Make sure the white balance iscorrect.
Make this look presentable,because this will make a
difference and people need tosee before and afters.
It's like if you don't showthem a before and after of big
treatment.
It's like buying a car withouta test drive, like you just need
to see it, see what's possible,and show them that look, I do
(11:03):
cases like this.
This is something I've done anumber of and you want them to
trust you.
That's part of trust, so I wantthem to see that I'm scrolling
through a huge folder of tonsand tons and tons of cosmetic
stuff that I've done.
I find that that makes a hugedifference.
All right, models.
Have you tried to explain thesnap-on denture versus the fixed
hybrid, versus like just aplain old denture?
(11:25):
I used to do it on my hand allthe time, like oh, and it snaps.
You know, like that, what am Idoing?
Spend the money on Amazon.
You can buy these little models.
You can show you like a fixedhybrid, like an all-in-four, and
it'll show you an implant likea snap denture, and you can get
little models for very simplethings to talk about.
We've got one for a flipper.
(11:46):
We've got one for our nightguard, and these things are not
like in a central location.
We've got one in each of theoperatories.
Now, for the models with thefixed hybrid, we actually have
one for the office, so they dohave to go get it, but it makes
it so much easier for you toexplain what this is and you can
hand it to the patient and youcan say, hey, pull that off,
(12:07):
pull that denture off, feel howthose snaps feel good, how
strong they are.
What would it be like to eatwith something like that?
So don't hesitate to invest alittle bit of money into some
models, because it really helps.
Like, another model I love toshow is a expander, all right.
And the last thing in theoperatory is just finding
pictures from the internet.
It's so easy to find picturesof dental things on Google
(12:28):
images and just save them in afolder.
Like I've taken pictures fordifferent concepts, like I have
one for I have a bridge versusimplant.
It shows what a bridge versusimplant is.
Now I also have one of thosemodels that has all the
different dental procedures onit, where you can see bridge
versus implant is.
Now I also have one of thosemodels that has all the
different dental procedures onit where you can see bridge
versus implant there.
But I have one that's just avisual slide and I have it saved
in a folder.
It's got our brand on it and Ijust pull it up.
(12:48):
There's a bridge, there's animplant, there's a cast metal
partial versus a valplast,there's a sealant, there's an
expander, there's a Herbstappliance.
So a lot of different things.
So anytime you're talking to apatient and you just feel like
you want that visual aid, youthink it would be easier to show
them.
Just sit down and create it.
It takes a little bit of time.
It's one of those things that'svery easy to procrastinate on,
(13:10):
but I assure you it's worth thetime.
All right, let's talk about thefront desk Membership plans.
We use visuals for a membershipplan.
We use visuals for a membershipplan.
We have a nice little brochurethat we made and it shows, like
what the benefits are.
It shows why it's differentthan dental insurance, why it's
not dental insurance, and thenit also shows a table of what
the savings would be A very easyway to convey value and show
(13:33):
them what is possible.
We also like to print out fromCareCredit.
I know you can do this withSunbit as well.
You can type in the value ofthe treatment plan and you can
get a printout of what thedifferent financing options are
and what the payment could be,interest rate based on their
credit.
And I find that if somebodydoesn't schedule, this is when
(13:53):
our team does it.
We always offer it to peoplelike hey, is this something
you'd be interested in?
Do you want to talk more aboutthis?
But if they don't schedule,they always leave with a
printout of that.
They always get a printout ofthe financials because I want
them to go home, I want them tosit in their car and go damn it,
I can't afford it, I'm so poor.
And then when they look at thething we gave them, they go, oh
my gosh, I can afford thispayment.
(14:14):
Yeah, I can get this treatment,all right, cool.
So I like them to leave withthat.
I think it helps.
You know we send them home witha treatment plan and we send
them home with a little bit offinancing information so that
they know it's not about payingupfront.
We can do financing.
You know it's within your grasp.
You can have this dentaltreatment.
So what I really want you tothink is that anytime we're
moving through the office andanytime we're communicating
(14:35):
anything with patients, weshould always be thinking about
is this making sense and can Icommunicate this a little bit
better?
And if there's a way tocommunicate it better with a
visual aid, it's worth creating.
These things are not alreadymade where you can just grab
them and take them and use themin your office.
But in reality I think I wentthrough maybe like 15, 20 things
in this episode.
(14:55):
It's not going to take you thatlong to get all those things
together.
But if you can use a visual aid, use it.
It is so much easier to explain, it's going to save you time in
the operatory and it's going togive you a great ROI because
patients are going to say, yes,you're going to increase your
case acceptance, you're going toreduce the confusion, you're
going to build trust with yourpatients.
That's what we want.
So my challenge to you thisweek is to create a few visual
(15:19):
aids and try them out on yourpatients and see if you get some
different results.
See if it feels different.
All right, thank you so much forlistening.
Next week we've got SpencerGreer, the big time producer.
He's coming back on the showand I'm going to interview him
on how he runs his practice, howhe created a team driven
practice that he doesn't evenpractice in anymore.
(15:40):
He's got multiple practiceswith associates and partners and
he's just a really cool dudeand I just love the way he
explains things.
So that's a great interviewcoming up.
Come back on Monday to hearthat Everybody have a fantastic
week and we will talk to younext time.
Some studies say that people remember 65% of visual
information and only 10% of whatthey hear, so you need to be
maximizing the amount ofconcepts you can use visual aids
for when explaining things topatients.
Today, I'm going to shareeverywhere in my office
currently that I createdadditional visual aids to help
explain complex topics, do moreelective treatment and get more
(00:25):
patients saying yes to myrecommendations.
I know that a few of theseyou're probably already doing,
but I guarantee you that you'renot doing all of them.
You are listening to the DentalPractice Heroes podcast, where
we teach you how to work three,two, one or even zero clinical
days a week, take more time offand make more money than ever.
I'm your host, dr Paul Etchison, author of two books on dental
(00:48):
practice management, dentalcoach and owner of a large group
practice in the south suburbsof Chicago.
I want practice owners like youto experience all the greatness
that can come from asystematized and team-managed
office.
So let me know if you canrelate to this.
This is probably within thefirst year out of school.
(01:08):
I'm trying to explain what abridge is to a patient and it
goes like this, and I foundmyself doing this a lot when I
got out of school.
You have a very simple concept.
It is a bridge, it is aporcelain piece that contains
three teeth and it extends fromone tooth across an edentulous
space to the other space.
You're probably listening to mesaying yeah, that's pretty
(01:30):
simple.
Everybody knows what a bridgeis, but how do you explain it?
This is how I used to explainit.
Ok, I would get my two fists uplike this and I have them up in
front of me.
So here's the one tooth, thespace is in between, and here's
the other tooth.
And what we're going to make iswe're going to make one piece
of porcelain that's going to gofrom one side to the other side.
And now I don't have three arms, so, like when I'm holding my
two teeth in the air, I can'tshow where the bridge is going.
(01:53):
And I had a patient ask me like,I don't get it, like is that
the top of the tooth?
And I said what do you mean?
Like the gum line top, or doyou mean like the, the biting
surface, top, dude, I mean thetop.
And so he goes no, the, thebiting surface.
We say the biting surface.
I go oh, he's like I don't getthis.
(02:14):
Like what?
What is it the bottom or thetop teeth?
And I'm like dude, it's.
I guess it's well, I'm talkingabout your top teeth, but I'm
holding it in the way like it'sa bottom tooth and he's like,
okay, so where are the roots?
And I'm just like dude bro.
And then finally he said to mehe's like dude, I'm so sorry,
I'm lost.
I know you're trying to show mewith your hands, but I feel
like you're just doing the YMCAover here.
And that's when it hit me whatthe hell am I doing, like?
(02:40):
And I have so many patients thatI do this with and they don't
say anything and they probablydon't understand.
But they just don't wanna saylike, they don't wanna stop me
and say, hey, I don't know whatyou're talking about.
It is a complex topic.
It's much easier just to showthem a picture, show them a
model, and that's the way I doit now.
And there's so many places inour dental offices where we can
(03:04):
utilize visual aids.
It would make things so mucheasier.
And think about it If thepatient is confused, they're not
going to say yes.
So we want them to understandwhat they're getting into.
And the last thing we want iswhen we do treatment on somebody
and they're just like what thehell was that?
I didn't know we were doingthat.
You ever prep somebody for abridge?
And they're like, why are youshaving my teeth down?
(03:24):
And you're just like are youstupid?
Like what the hell are youtalking about?
Are you being serious?
This is the type of stuff thatwe're trying to avoid.
I don't care how well youexplain how a bridge, you have
to destroy enamel and how animplant is independent of the
adjacent teeth.
It makes so much more sensejust to show a picture and point
(03:45):
at it.
Let's go around the office,let's talk about how we use
these.
I hope I give you some greatideas for this.
So around the office, in thewaiting room, I have one TV that
is playing.
You know it's just like playinglike HDTV.
Whatever's on, you know we'llhave the news on something like
that.
So it's just run that.
But above our door, going intoour clinical area, is another
(04:07):
big screen that's playing alooped PowerPoint presentation
and what's on there is picturesfrom team events.
There are some slides that saynice stuff like your comfort is
our priority, just littlebranding things.
Because I find that if youplant that seed in the patient's
brain.
They'll be like man.
They really care.
So little statements like that.
There is before and aftersshowing like smile makeovers.
(04:29):
They're showing like Invisalign.
We're advertising Botox.
We're showing that we do oralcancer screenings.
So there's so many things thatwe can show the patients, and as
long as we mix in some funpictures, like from team outings
, or pictures of the doctor andtheir kids, things like that the
patients will look at this, andso it's a way of letting them
(04:50):
know the things that we dowithout having to verbally tell
them what we do, and it's also away of letting them know that
we're different from otheroffices and this is who our
brand is.
So it's a very simple thing todo.
I just bought an old laptop fromlike the refurb from eBay and
it's just running a repeatPowerPoint.
Now people are saying why doyou have to put it on a
PowerPoint?
You don't.
(05:10):
You can just put it on a flashdrive and stick it in the side
of the TV.
I just find it's a lot easierto update if it's a PowerPoint
file rather than just draggingpictures.
So that's why All right theother things in the waiting room
.
How about some awards?
You ever win one of thosereally prestigious awards where
they say, hey, you won thisaward.
If you send me $300, we'll sendyou an award.
(05:32):
Man, I win those every yearbecause, dude, our office is so
freaking awesome, we always winit.
Do you guys win that too?
I buy those awards.
I know that seems so cheesy,but I'm telling you, the
patients see them and it makes adifference.
I don't buy them every year, Ibuy them every other year.
So it's always like we eitherwon this year, the year before,
(05:56):
or we're going to win next yearbecause I don't want, I don't
feel like I have to buy themevery year, but I would buy one
about every other year.
And sometimes they're plaquesand sometimes they're awards and
they're just kind of set aroundall over the office.
I think it makes a difference.
So I remember going to a doctorwhen I was like 16 and being
like, wow, chicago's bestdoctors.
Whoa, that's a big deal, sweet,all right.
(06:17):
Sponsorships.
Do you sponsor teams and dothey like send you like a
picture?
Do you have any plaques showingthat?
We have a section of our wallin our waiting room that has a
bunch of?
We sponsor softball andbaseball teams, so we have a
section that has that andbaseball teams, so we have a
section that has that.
Anything you can show thatyou're active in your community.
I think it makes a bigdifference in the brand.
So put these visual remindersto your patients that you are a
(06:37):
legit office that cares.
All right, let's move on to whatwe can do in the operatory.
First of all, the obvious oneis using intraoral cameras and
making sure that you have a wayto show it to the patient so
that they don't have to turnaround.
I think this day and age that'spretty common, so most people
have that by now.
But if you don't, that's themost basic one You've got.
(06:59):
Seeing is believing.
The patient has to see what wesee.
So get intraoral cameras inevery single operatory.
I don't get anything frommouthwatch.
That's just what we use.
We have a mouthwatch camera inevery single op and when it
breaks we throw it away and webuy a new one.
But I think the image qualityis really good in those and I
like them All right.
Digital x-rays this is kind of ano brainer, but I wanted to add
(07:21):
a little caveat to it is thatwe've just started using, like
the AI stuff and it colors onthe x-rays man.
It is really cool to visuallyshow patients' bone loss and
it's really cool to visuallyshow the existing restorations
one color and show decay inanother color.
So I just wanted to share that.
We found that very helpful.
We're still integrating thisusing the AI, x-rays and stuff
(07:45):
like that, but so far, so good.
It's been really helpful.
All right, the wallpaperbackground.
Now this is what I mean.
When you walk into myoperatories, we have the TV on
the wall and we have it set upso that it's showing the
computer Now on the computer.
It'll eventually switch to a TVthat they'll watch.
When the patient walks into theoperatory, I want it set on the
(08:06):
computer because I don't wantany sound and I want them to see
that little wallpaper Okay, thedesktop wallpaper that shows
our logo and it has a littletagline underneath it.
Experience the difference.
I think that little touch pointmakes such a big deal.
I know some people that havegone as far as they will set up
(08:29):
the screensaver and it'll saywelcome and it'll say the
person's name.
So I think that's a nice littletouch too.
You know, take advantage ofevery single opportunity.
All right, in the operatorieswe have one poster.
Now, I don't think you shouldclutter up your operatories.
I don't like that.
I don't like clutter, I like itclean.
I like less things.
Less is more.
But in every single operatorywe have something advertising
Botox.
Just, we have somethingadvertising Botox, just like a
(08:49):
little like two by three, youknow, two foot by three, foot
printed, nice graphic.
Hey, we do the Botox here.
This is what you can expect,very simple, and the reason we
do that with Botox is Botox is avery difficult thing to look
someone in the eye and say youever thought about Botox?
And they're like dude, I'm herefor my teeth, don't talk about
(09:10):
my wrinkles.
It Botox and they're like dude,I'm here for my teeth, don't
talk about my wrinkles.
It's like you go getliposuction and someone's like
you ever think about doing afacelift?
It's like no, that's not whatI'm here for.
So we wanted to have let themknow that we did Botox as a
dental office.
That's how we got it off theground.
A lot of people ask questions.
It's a very it's an easy way ofgetting that off the ground.
I would also do All right beforeand after photos.
(09:37):
I think you should have theseon one folder on your computers.
We have it in a folder on ourserver so we can pull it up in
any computer.
But you know, I used to have itwhere they were all very
organized very well, andsometimes I could go to like I
could open up one folder andthere would be, like you know,
four pictures of this procedure.
Maybe it was a diastema closureor something like that.
And then maybe I had anotherfolder of veneers.
(09:58):
I had another full folder oflike prepped, like full mouth
cases, and what I found, justserendipitously and being
unorganized, is that it makes agreat impression if you have one
giant folder with everything inthere, so that when you go, oh,
let me find this case, I willbring that folder right in front
of the patient so they can seeall the cases.
(10:20):
Now, they're small, they're likethumbnail size and windows, but
when I find the case I want toshow them.
I want them to see that Iscrolled past so many other
cases.
Oh, where is it Gosh?
We do so many of these.
I really have to organize thisfolder.
That's what I say every time.
So put them in a folder, youknow.
Organize them so that you canfind what you need, but also
(10:42):
make sure that all thesepictures are cropped nice.
Make sure the white balance iscorrect.
Make this look presentable,because this will make a
difference and people need tosee before and afters.
It's like if you don't showthem a before and after of big
treatment.
It's like buying a car withouta test drive, like you just need
to see it, see what's possible,and show them that look, I do
(11:03):
cases like this.
This is something I've done anumber of and you want them to
trust you.
That's part of trust, so I wantthem to see that I'm scrolling
through a huge folder of tonsand tons and tons of cosmetic
stuff that I've done.
I find that that makes a hugedifference.
All right, models.
Have you tried to explain thesnap-on denture versus the fixed
hybrid, versus like just aplain old denture?
(11:25):
I used to do it on my hand allthe time, like oh, and it snaps.
You know, like that, what am Idoing?
Spend the money on Amazon.
You can buy these little models.
You can show you like a fixedhybrid, like an all-in-four, and
it'll show you an implant likea snap denture, and you can get
little models for very simplethings to talk about.
We've got one for a flipper.
(11:46):
We've got one for our nightguard, and these things are not
like in a central location.
We've got one in each of theoperatories.
Now, for the models with thefixed hybrid, we actually have
one for the office, so they dohave to go get it, but it makes
it so much easier for you toexplain what this is and you can
hand it to the patient and youcan say, hey, pull that off,
(12:07):
pull that denture off, feel howthose snaps feel good, how
strong they are.
What would it be like to eatwith something like that?
So don't hesitate to invest alittle bit of money into some
models, because it really helps.
Like, another model I love toshow is a expander, all right.
And the last thing in theoperatory is just finding
pictures from the internet.
It's so easy to find picturesof dental things on Google
(12:28):
images and just save them in afolder.
Like I've taken pictures fordifferent concepts, like I have
one for I have a bridge versusimplant.
It shows what a bridge versusimplant is.
Now I also have one of thosemodels that has all the
different dental procedures onit, where you can see bridge
versus implant is.
Now I also have one of thosemodels that has all the
different dental procedures onit where you can see bridge
versus implant there.
But I have one that's just avisual slide and I have it saved
in a folder.
It's got our brand on it and Ijust pull it up.
(12:48):
There's a bridge, there's animplant, there's a cast metal
partial versus a valplast,there's a sealant, there's an
expander, there's a Herbstappliance.
So a lot of different things.
So anytime you're talking to apatient and you just feel like
you want that visual aid, youthink it would be easier to show
them.
Just sit down and create it.
It takes a little bit of time.
It's one of those things that'svery easy to procrastinate on,
(13:10):
but I assure you it's worth thetime.
All right, let's talk about thefront desk Membership plans.
We use visuals for a membershipplan.
We use visuals for a membershipplan.
We have a nice little brochurethat we made and it shows, like
what the benefits are.
It shows why it's differentthan dental insurance, why it's
not dental insurance, and thenit also shows a table of what
the savings would be A very easyway to convey value and show
(13:33):
them what is possible.
We also like to print out fromCareCredit.
I know you can do this withSunbit as well.
You can type in the value ofthe treatment plan and you can
get a printout of what thedifferent financing options are
and what the payment could be,interest rate based on their
credit.
And I find that if somebodydoesn't schedule, this is when
(13:53):
our team does it.
We always offer it to peoplelike hey, is this something
you'd be interested in?
Do you want to talk more aboutthis?
But if they don't schedule,they always leave with a
printout of that.
They always get a printout ofthe financials because I want
them to go home, I want them tosit in their car and go damn it,
I can't afford it, I'm so poor.
And then when they look at thething we gave them, they go, oh
my gosh, I can afford thispayment.
(14:14):
Yeah, I can get this treatment,all right, cool.
So I like them to leave withthat.
I think it helps.
You know we send them home witha treatment plan and we send
them home with a little bit offinancing information so that
they know it's not about payingupfront.
We can do financing.
You know it's within your grasp.
You can have this dentaltreatment.
So what I really want you tothink is that anytime we're
moving through the office andanytime we're communicating
(14:35):
anything with patients, weshould always be thinking about
is this making sense and can Icommunicate this a little bit
better?
And if there's a way tocommunicate it better with a
visual aid, it's worth creating.
These things are not alreadymade where you can just grab
them and take them and use themin your office.
But in reality I think I wentthrough maybe like 15, 20 things
in this episode.
(14:55):
It's not going to take you thatlong to get all those things
together.
But if you can use a visual aid, use it.
It is so much easier to explain, it's going to save you time in
the operatory and it's going togive you a great ROI because
patients are going to say, yes,you're going to increase your
case acceptance, you're going toreduce the confusion, you're
going to build trust with yourpatients.
That's what we want.
So my challenge to you thisweek is to create a few visual
(15:19):
aids and try them out on yourpatients and see if you get some
different results.
See if it feels different.
All right, thank you so much forlistening.
Next week we've got SpencerGreer, the big time producer.
He's coming back on the showand I'm going to interview him
on how he runs his practice, howhe created a team driven
practice that he doesn't evenpractice in anymore.
(15:40):
He's got multiple practiceswith associates and partners and
he's just a really cool dudeand I just love the way he
explains things.
So that's a great interviewcoming up.
Come back on Monday to hearthat Everybody have a fantastic
week and we will talk to younext time.
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