Dental Practice Snafus Part 1: How to Overcome Poor Patient Communication, Difficult Cases, and Stale Marketing Efforts
Even the most successful dentists struggle with setbacks in areas of their dental practice. Whether it be marketing, cases, patient communication, or teamwork, no one gets it right 100% of the time.
In Part 1 of this interview with Dr. Brady, she divulges the rocky moments that inevitably occur in a dental practice and how she deals with any communication issues or marketing plateaus that arise.
Dental Dilemma: The Elusive Magic Marketing Formula, Poor Communication, and Tricky Cases
Q: What marketing issues do you deal with in your practice and how do you resolve them?
A: Marketing is always a work in progress. Trying to find that magic formula for external marketing is something I’ve had to keep working at for all the years I have been in practice. The methods of marketing evolve, as from direct mail to e-mail to cool media.
I think the message has to be continually evolving. In addition to these external pieces, our internal marketing efforts can also get stale. Changing what we are doing keeps us engaged and energized and keeps our referrals strong.
Q: Have there been any patient conversations that went awry or cases that didn’t turn out as expected recently?
A: There are always cases that go awry or don’t go as planned. When I get right down to it, most often the cause is poor communication. That may be between myself and the patient, myself and the lab, or sometimes between myself and a team member. In the most recent case that went “awry,” it seemed there were lots of communication issues and technical ones.
The patient lost his lower four front teeth. I worked with a great surgeon but unfortunately one of the implants didn’t integrate and had to be redone. The second implant placement was different because we had planned for a screw-retained bridge and ended up having to do cement-retained. We also had to add pink porcelain and then struggled with the color match. It all worked out for the best though, thanks to having a great relationship with the patient, as well as being able to regroup and help him understand why things were changing.
How do you deal with communication issues and other problems in your dental practice? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
