The Importance of First Consultation in Dental Practice: The Challenges between the Old and the New ? Taking the First Call Effectively

Most of you who are reading this run your own dental private practices and those of you, who are now minimum one year old in the business (of dentistry) know by now that it is by no means a cake walk. We might be having an excellent skill-set courtesy our good training, excellent teachers, patient work practices, confidence and zeal to deal with almost all kinds of patient related situations (intra-oral) and we excitedly pass out of dental colleges (graduate or post-graduate) ready to take on the world until reality check happens. We are found wanting in a few very vital aspects of dental practice viz. practice management, communication, finance, medico-legal and negligence aspects. In this article though, we shall limit ourselves to the art of communication in first consultation which is utmost essential for handling the patients especially during treatment. We might be excelling at providing our patients with excellent oral health regimens courtesy above mentioned skill-sets but sometimes, we become so caught up in our day-to-day operations that we forget about one of the vital elements of a successful dental practice; an exceptionally satisfying patient experience.