Help  Patients Say Yes to Treatment

A recent statistic states that there is $32 billion in treatment approved for financing Care Credit still waiting to be scheduled – why?

Why are patients not ready to purchase? Are my services not good enough? Are they going to find another dentist?

Sometimes we forget our patients are consumers too. The reason why they may not be ready to purchase is most likely because of the thought process behind consumer purchases.

Think about the last time you purchased something. Maybe you bought a flat screen TV or a brand-new car or limited addition shoes you.

What made you buy it? Was it the product itself? Was it the look, the feel or the design of the product? Was the product on sale? Did you need your purchase or did your emotions play a role in your decision?

The average consumer today buys based on their emotion. So how do I get my patients to buy from me when there seems like there’s little room for improvement?

Well, many doctors will say “My intraoral camera image is good enough.”  But good enough for who?  The highly educated consumer sitting in your chair with a $1,150 cell phone in their pocket? 

The average consumer today expects the best experience possible, so they will notice if your office equipment is outdated. New technology, like intraoral cameras, is constantly improving so there’s always room for improvement, Consider upgrading your cameras and monitors in your office to make their experience even better.

So you tell your patient he needs to get a couple of crowns or fillings after conducting a routine cleaning and exam.

Your patient looks at you uncomfortably and says, “Maybe I can decide on my next appointment, Doc. I don’t have any pain, at all.”

Then you see the distrust in his eyes and tell him reassuringly, “Sure, no worries. I just hope the problem with your teeth would not have grown worse by then.”

He then reaches for his wallet, murmurs “Thank you,” and rushes off.

Sound familiar?

Now, you’re not sure if he’s ever really coming back, even after six months when he’s supposed to have his next routine cleaning appointment.

But have you ever considered getting an intraoral camera for cavity detection and other crucial aspects of your practice? If not, consider the following advantages:

• Early detection of dental problems – The smallest signs of a growing dental issue such as hairline fractures can be easily detected with an intraoral camera.
• Accurate diagnosis – With the crystal-clear, sharp images that you can take with an intraoral camera, you’ll be able to make precise diagnoses and recommended the right treatment every time. For more difficult cases, you can easily confer with other experts since high-resolution images will be available during consultation.
• Patient education – You can virtually do “show and tell” in real time. This means you can take your patient on a “dental tour” of his or her mouth, showing areas where gum disease may be a concern, as well as plaque and other early signs of tooth decay.
• Improved doctor-patient relations – With an intraoral camera, your patient knows right away that you’re not “making stuff up” in terms of his or her oral health. Images of patients’ teeth and gums taken in real-time means they see exactly what you see, and you can easily point out areas they need to be concerned about.
• Increased case and treatment acceptance – Using images taken with an intraoral camera means your patients won’t need a lot of convincing to make decisions for their treatment because they know and have seen the state of their dental health.
• Filing or future case documentation – The availability of images from each patient case means you need not spend a lot of time writing up descriptions of each case. You’ll also save on office space as you can avail of both traditional PC-based and cloud-based information storage options.
• Stronger dental insurance claims – When there are problems with dental insurance claims, there really is nothing like crystal clear pictures painfully detailing your patient’s dental problem and the need for treatment to reassure insurance companies that the claim being made is well-founded and legitimate.
• Enhanced practice reputation – Having an intraoral camera around can have an immense impact on your credibility and integrity as a dental practitioner. Your patients trust you, and you can also trust them to refer you to friends and family.

The key takeaways here, in terms of the profitability of your practice are, of course, improved relations with your patients and case acceptance.

So now that you are familiar with how an intraoral camera can have a huge impact on your ROI, it’s high time you do some more research and shop around. How many do you need? What can I expect in terms of a % of growth in Year 1?

You can start off by exploring the IRIS intraoral camera series, including the IRIS USB 2.0 Chair or IRIS LTE USB 2.0 intraoral cameras which both offer flexibility and ease of use as well as sharp, high-resolution imaging results. Contact us today to schedule a free demo.

There’s no question that caries or cavity detection is one of the most important tasks of dental practitioners. In fact, a lot of patients will only go to a dentist if they feel pain – the proverbial toothache – or if they see physical signs in their teeth such as bleeding and/or discoloration.

This is primarily the reason why it is so important for dentists to ensure they have the education, training, skills, experience and current technology required to establish a sound and respected clinical practice.

Therefore, in light of this common need among patients, selecting the best caries detection tools for your practice is paramount to ensure you get accurate information in order to arrive at a correct diagnosis and treatment recommendation.

Below is a list of detection tools used in dental practice:

1. Detection Dye

The caries detection dye or disclosing agent has been an important supplemental ingredient in the use of the dental explorer, otherwise known as the “sickle probe,” and spoon excavator.

Traditionally used to prod and probe teeth for the presence of cavities, the dental explorer requires the use of caries detection dye as the latter is usually effective in detecting caries after teeth have been subjected to a thorough cleaning.

Detection dye can accurately differentiate between non-remineralizable and remineralizable dentin and is considered one of the more cost-effective caries detection tools.

As you may know, staining solution is applied to the thoroughly dried and isolated area and usually left for 10 seconds and then rinsed off (sometimes immediately, according to the manufacturer’s recommendation).

Areas that turn scarlet red (or even dark blue or green, as the case may be, depending on the formulation of the solution) are identified as carious dentin and are subsequently removed with a round bur and slow speed handpiece and/or a spoon excavator.

The problem with this method is that it can lead to false positives because circumpulpal dentin and that which is found in the dentino-enamel junction are less mineralized.

2. Laser fluorescence (LF)

Used to measure the extent and depth of decay, laser fluorescence technology can be used both for diagnosis and treatment.

It is known that bacteria fluoresce when subjected to various wavelengths of light, a premise upon which LF technology is built upon. When carious structures are detected, the device gives off an audio signal indicating the extent of caries.

Current improvements in the technology offer greater accuracy in detection, although the American Dental Association (ADA) recommends that LF is used in conjunction with other caries detection methods for better and more accurate diagnosis and treatment.

The effectiveness of this tool is highly dependent on the level of expertise/training of the dental practitioner.

3. Intraoral cameras

More efficiently used together with dental imaging technology and/or dental management software, intraoral cameras offer precise, real-time images to detect dental problems, including caries.

Connected to a PC monitor or TV screen visible to the patient, intraoral cameras produce high-resolution images and enable dentists to see hard-to-reach sections of the oral cavity. Depending on the model, they are generally lightweight, flexible and easy to manipulate.

The LūM Transillumination, by, Digital Doc, attaches to the IRIS intraoral cameras not only taking external photos of the teeth, gums and general mouth area but also features sub-enamel illumination showing nearly X-ray like images. This technology is extremely powerful when presenting a treatment plan to your patients.

Choose your technology

While there are other tools available for the early detection of dental caries, both old and new, it is up to you, the dental practitioner, to decide on which will work best for you.

In making your decision, always take into account the level of accuracy the tool you use produces. It will directly impact the diagnoses you will be making, and the treatments you will be subjecting your patients to. Remember, quality over quantity goes a long way in dentistry. Choosing the right equipment will earn you trust, and raving fans in your patients.

In short, the success and reputation of your practice depend on it, so be sure to do your homework.  

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