Be with your patient

The following comes from Exceptional Dental Practice Management. May we all hire excellent staff to help us in our daily routines!

Even though my first passion in dentistry was and still often is dental assisting, I realized that I don’t write much about it. Well, today I will. Friday is a day that we reserve for our more complicated cases. It’s usually just my boss, the patient and I in the office. Sometimes another staff member comes in to handle the front desk. We do our most intense dentistry on Fridays and really get in the zone.
Our first patient was a gentleman who needed four extractions. He had some health complications and was extremely apprehensive. His gingival tissue was still inflamed despite being on antibiotics for a week so the delivery of local anesthetic was uncomfortable. I generally comfort patients in some way at times like that and I was rubbing his arm during the injection. When my boss was finished the patient said, “Thanks for the arm rub, it felt like someone was in it with me.” Basically he felt seen, heard, understood and comforted. The extractions went well and he went home thankful and relieved.
The second procedure was an implant placement on a very healthy middle-aged woman. Again, our patient was apprehensive. I suggested nitrous oxide which took the level of her tension down very nicely. She needed a sinus elevation and when my boss started tapping the osteotome with the mallet she came very close to panic. I’ve had a sinus elevation. I knew just how she felt. I could empathize with her completely. Her knees drew up and her hands started grasping for anything. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just really…..MORE

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Henry on the Park Resident)