As a dentist, you love your work and take pride in serving your community. But running a successful practice involves more than your skill as a dentist. You handle insurance, staffing, payroll, a building lease, accounting, and much more. 

In addition to all of this, you're responsible for managing patient relationships.

This can be exhausting and confusing. Small talks with dental patients can feel forced. Patients bring all sorts of hangups into their appointment, and it can feel like pulling teeth just to get them in the chair, let alone get them to come back.

With these four tips to transform how you communicate with patients, you can take the guesswork out of your patient relationships and help you build patient loyalty.

1. Introduce Yourself

This is the conversation starter of conversation starters. Whether you feel it or not, your dental patients may feel uneasy before you even walk into the room. People tend to feel anxious and uncomfortable at dentist offices and often project feelings of superiority onto their relationships with medical professionals. You are just a person, and you can build trust by illustrating that. 

When you walk into the room, smile, greet your patient, and introduce yourself. This alone can make big improvements in your small talk with dental patients.

2. Assess the Situation

Before you enter the room, talk to your dental hygienists to get a sense of how the patient is feeling. Are they at ease or anxious? After that, introduce yourself and sit next to the patient. 

As you do this, pay attention to the patient’s body language. Are they fidgeting? Is their voice quavering? Are they relaxed? Whether you feel it or not, you are in the position of power here. You have an immense influence on their experience. Ask them how they are feeling that day and if they have any questions or concerns before you begin working.

This lets them know that you care about their experience. Once you give them permission to participate in the experience with you, you might be surprised at how the atmosphere changes from anxious to relaxed, just like that. 

If they seem open to it, ask some low-pressure questions about their lives like what they do for fun, if they have pets or children, etc. They may choose not to engage but showing that you are willing is often enough to create a lasting good impression.

Also, this should go without saying, but steer clear of politics, religion, and money when choosing small talk topics.

3. Narrate What You're Doing for Your Patients

Many patients hold deep-seated fears of dentists and dental offices. While you may think this is silly, these fears often stem from bad childhood experiences with dentist visits. This is your chance to alleviate those fears and change their perception. Once you do that, you might make a patient for life.

One way you can reduce anxiety is to tell patients exactly what you are doing and what it will feel like. This is a good technique to use when the patient is awake but cannot speak to you during a procedure. When patients know what to expect, they feel more in control and more relaxed. 

4. Communicate After the Appointment

Once you’ve concluded the examination and treatment, there’s one more step to creating a great patient experience. Use the exit period to show patients what makes your practice special. Maybe you offer a Patient Loyalty Program that can help them save on future appointments. Gift bags are great, but top-of-the-line service and support are what earn your patients’ loyalty.

Once your patient is out the door, you can still stay in touch. With Dental Intelligence 2-Way Communication, you can text or email your patients to let them know about upcoming appointments or let them chat with your team when they need to.

Tools to Streamline Your Practice's Patient Communication

When you avoid dental patient communication mistakes and you have the tools for great small talk with dental patients, you’re well on your way to patient loyalty because your practice is the whole package. You’re not just good at what you do; your patients know they come first and that you'll take great care of them.

Dental Intelligence is here to help your practice thrive. Schedule a demo today to see how we can help you improve communication and patient care.