Working in dentistry can be tough. Patients have fears and anxieties that make our jobs difficult – but they don’t have to be. Try these tiny tips to ease anxiety and increase patient comfort.
Tiny Tip #2 - THE POWER OF SUGGESTION
I find that patients are very open to suggestion, mostly because they know very little about what we do.
If I tell my patients the outcome I am expecting from a product or procedure, they are more open to it. For example, if I tell my patients that I am placing topical anesthetic on their tissue and I specifically tell them it will numb the tissue before the needle, they seem to feel less of the pinch.
The same holds true for desensitizing. I brush or polish it on and I tell my patients that I am placing a desensitizer on their teeth and that will it block the channels to the nerve so they will feel less. Without fail, they report less sensitivity.
How to: Prepare patients to expect a positive outcome before beginning the procedure. The expectation or suggestion alone, often unconsciously, changes behavior and response patterns to help bring into reality the positive suggestion.
Tune in next week for another tiny tip!
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