Dental Goals • What are your goals for your dental health? • How important is your smile to your home or work life? • What do you think your dental health will be like in five years? What do you want it to be like? Dental Experience • What has dentistry been like for you? • Tell me about your past experiences with dentistry? • Has anything kept you from receiving dental treatment in the past? What was it? • What was your last dental visit like? Dental Condition • What concerns (if any) do you have about your dental health?...

The handling of new patient phone calls by your receptionist should be done honestly while effectively guiding the conversation.  The handling of new patient phone calls by your receptionist should be done honestly while effectively guiding the conversation.  When a new patient calls, whether FFS or PPO, their attention is typically on money. Your receptionist needs to move a patient’s attention off of money and onto why they really called: The patient’s actual need.  Pro Tip: Avoid the word “No”. Words matter. When a patient hears the word “No” they mentally check out. It is not logical but it’s true.  Out...

1. By survey, the overwhelming number of new patients expect a cleaning as part of their first new patient appointment. 2. Unless the new patient is an emergency, has a broken tooth or toothache assume all new patients will get a prophy but, do not guarantee a prophy when scheduling. 3. The doctor always does an exam first however, many doctors do not like doing the comprehensive exam in uncleaned patients as caries can be missed if a lot of buildup is present. For that reason, many practices schedule the patient through hygiene but, of course, the doctor must still perform...