506: How to Help Your Patients Take Treatment Seriously - Christina Byrne, Angela Heathman, & Heather Crockett

How to Help Your Patients Take Treatment Seriously

Episode #506 with Christina Byrne, Angela Heathman, & Heather Crockett

Do you ever tell your patients it’s “just a little cavity” or “only a quick screening”? If you want them to take treatment more seriously, you need to change your language! And to help you shift your thinking, Kirk Behrendt brings back three of his amazing ACT coaches to explain what minimizing language is, how it’s affecting your treatment planning, and ways to eliminate them from your practice. Minimize your minimizing language! To learn how, listen to Episode 506 of The Best Practices Show!

Episode Resources:

• Christina’s email: christina@actdental.com 
• Christina’s social media: @actdental
• Angela’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angeheathman
• Angela’s social media: @angeheathman
• Heather’s email: heather@actdental.com 
• Heather’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heather.r.crockett
• Heather’s social media: @actdental
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Links Mentioned in This Episode:

ACT Dental’s Say This, Not That document: https://form.jotform.com/221665137804153

Main Takeaways:

Your language matters!

Stop devaluing your work with your words.

Don't downplay patients’ diseases with what you say.

Roleplay with your team and practice saying the right phrases.

Your entire team needs to be aligned and calibrated on language.

Quotes:

“The problem that we’re talking about is using minimizing words when we’re explaining treatment to our patients. Why is this so big? Because if you're going to the doctor’s office and they tell you that you have cancer, they're going to tell you what stage of cancer it is. And then, you understand at what level, what degree that cancer is at. We need to use the same outline in dentistry in order for our patients to understand the diagnosis that we’re recommending.” (4:45—5:14) -Heather

“[Minimizing language] is any phrase or word that you use that makes . . . what you're doing, what you're seeing, what they're experiencing less than what it actually is. So, an example of that might be using, ‘You have a little bleeding. You have a little cavity.’” (5:30—5:53) -Angela

“I hated when the doctor would say we were going to “watch” something. Because from [the hygienists’ perspective], we got to see the patient when they sat down in the chair from what they have done or not done in the last six months. And so, I know that this patient doesn't live in the same household with his toothbrush. The doctor doesn't know that when he or she comes in because I've done such a great job of making them look good and removing that plaque and calculus and stain. So, from the hygienists’ perspective, we tend to be a little bit more on the aggressive side because we know what that patient looks like and what their home care is.” (6:25—7:03) -Christina

“Start with listening to yourselves. I can remember going into practices and talking about this same exact thing and having the teams practice it. So, literally, sitting in the operatory and have one of the team members pretend to be the patient and the doctor talk about what he or she is saying. And one practice I was observing, and it wasn’t a real patient, it was one of the team members, but the doctor was saying, ‘A little cavity,’ or, ‘A little bit of bleeding.’ And I would pipe in and say, ‘How much bleeding? How much cavity?’ Because it’s so ingrained. We feel like we have to wear our patients’ diseases.” (8:27—9:11) -Christina

“I worked with a doctor years ago, and I won't say who, but that doctor would apologize when they would see something. So, they might find a cavity, ‘I'm so sorry. You have a cavity.’ Like, no! You're not sorry. They did this on their own! You had nothing to do with it. We’re so ingrained to want to help our patients so much. But we’re not helping them if we’re not being honest with them.” (9:12—9:44) -Christina

“It isn't ours. The patient needs to own that this is their diagnosis. They have periodontal disease — not “we found”. You have periodontal disease. And that takes the onus off of the doctor and the team members too, to say, “you have”. And to Chris’s point, backing up all of your recommendations and diagnoses with some kind of data, especially when it comes to periodontal disease. If we’re not perio charting our patients, what information do we have to back up that diagnosis?” (9:48—10:27) -Heather

“It’s not always about minimizing the treatment. Sometimes, we’re minimizing what we’re doing. Like, we might be doing an oral cancer screening, and instead of saying that we’re doing an oral cancer screening, we might say something like, ‘I'm just going to check for anything that looks abnormal,’ or something like that. And no — you're doing a very important screening for the patient. And they need to know that part of it too. The same thing when you're doing X-rays or taking a pan. You're checking for very specific things, and you can mention that. You don't have to say like, ‘Oh, I'm just looking for this.’ Make sure the patients understand the value of what your exam or your diagnostics are too.” (12:04—12:54) -Angela

“Patients value [exams and diagnostics]. They’ll value it more and ask. If it’s been a couple of years and they haven't had that pan, and you explain to them the reasons why you take a panoramic X-ray, they're going to ask. The good patients that you want there in your practice, they're going to ask and say, ‘We haven't taken that big X-ray. You know the one that goes around my head? We haven't done that in a while. When do we need to do that again?’” (12:55—13:17) -Heather

“The reason to take bitewings is not because you're due.” (13:19—13:21) -Christina

“When it comes to talking about scaling and root planing — and when I was a clinical hygienist, and this is what I also talk to my teams about — is using the same verbiage that the insurance company is going to use when they get the explanation of benefits. So, oftentimes, we’ll say deep cleaning or periodontal therapy. If we say scaling and root planing, that's the exact same thing that's going to show up on that patient’s explanation of benefits. So, they're going to connect the dots and know that we did what we said we were going to do. Not only that, but then you can explain to the patient what that procedure looks like and tell them, without minimizing words but in layman’s terms, exactly what that is.” (14:25—15:07) -Heather

“I would usually say something to the effect of, ‘I need to go below the gum tissue where you cannot clean yourself at home with a toothbrush or floss. I'm going to use special instrumentation to make sure I remove as much of that plaque and calculus as I possibly can. And we’re going to, in some cases, smooth that surface so that bacteria cannot attach itself and wreak havoc again.’” (15:10—15:38) -Heather

“What Chris was talking about before, it’s very uncomfortable to start using language that you haven't been using. But I love, Kirk, what you say all the time, and we took it from Rachel Wall, tell me your feelings, your philosophy on periodontal disease. Now, tell me, what are you doing to support what you just said? And if you're still feeling uncomfortable with it, have a roleplay session and practice during a team meeting so that you can get used to it and get comfortable.” (16:56—17:25) -Heather

“I have a team who is really struggling with this. It’s hard, right? It’s really, really hard to change your language. And so, they have a jar. It’s the minimizing language jar. Every time somebody says “little” or “just”, they have to put their name in the jar. And their team helps them to, ‘Oh! Doctor, you said “little decay” again! You've got to stick it in the jar!’ And so, then, at their team meeting, they pull it out and they read about it and, ‘Okay, how can we make this better?’ And every week, it seems to be less and less, which is good. But it’s a good reminder for the entire team to help each other out and to keep each other accountable to that language.” (17:30—18:09) -Heather

“If it’s “just a little,” why bother?” (18:43—18:44) -Christina

“We would see patients in hygiene. And then, if the doctor happened to have time in their schedule, they would do the restoration that day. And oftentimes, the doctor would minimize it and say like, ‘Oh, this little cavity. I can do a little filling. We might not even have to use anesthetics,’ and he would totally minimize it. And then, guess what would happen when they went up front to pay? Well, they didn't have “a little” fee. They had the same fee as they’ve always been charged. And so, what we did at my office is any time the doctor said a minimizing word during an exam, the hygienist or the assistant would lightly tap the dentist on the top of his shoe. And at first, he would look up like, ‘What?’ And then, he realized like, ‘Oh, yeah. I'm doing it.’ And that would be a chance to recover on the spot and say, ‘And I'm so glad we caught it early, because this is going to get bigger.’ And so, that was a nice on-the-spot thing to do.” (18:49—20:04) -Angela

“Any time you're actively working on something with a coach or with your team and everybody knows about it, it’s something that's much easier to talk about. So, if you're trying to get better at scanning, or you're trying to get better at communication or your PIT Stop, if you can acknowledge that you're working on it, then it’s much easier later to talk about it.” (21:31—21:57) -Angela

“The entire team needs to be calibrated on this too, because that patient is going to go to the front desk and schedule, and you don't want your admin team member to say, ‘Okay, let's get that little cavity scheduled for you.’ You can't say, ‘Oh, that's a clinical thing.’ So, we have to do this across the board. Every single person on the team has to be aligned and calibrated on what to say.” (22:58—23:24) -Christina

“The more confident your team gets in these verbal skills, the more you'll see your treatment plan acceptance numbers go up and your schedules are full.” (24:34—24:42) -Heather

“It doesn't happen overnight. This is something that definitely has to be practiced . . . Think about yourself as a football team. When you're in practice, you're practicing against your teammates. You're practicing with each other so that when it’s time for the real game, you know what to do in front of the other team. And so, we could think about it the same way.” (25:12—25:38) -Christina

“Roleplay in the operatory, at the front desk, so that your brain has the muscle memory of having these conversations so that when it is “game time” and you're with the patient, you'll remember that you had this conversation already, even though it was with your team. And it gives you the ability to make mistakes with your team.” (25:40—26:00) -Christina

“I heard something really good the other day. Dr. Richard Short sent it to me, one of our members. It was a video of someone saying, ‘Practice makes, what?’ And the audience came back and said, ‘Perfect.’ And he said, ‘No. Practice makes progress.’ And I thought that was so great because we think about this ideal of perfect. You're not going to be perfect. Get that out of your brain right now. Even if you've been doing it great for a year, you're going to slip up. There's going to be a day when you're sitting with a patient and you're going to say, ‘Oh, there's a little bit of bleeding here. Augh! How did I do that!’” (26:01—26:36) -Christina

“Eliminate the [minimizing] word. You have bleeding. You have an infection. You have decay. Get rid of a little.” (27:10—27:23) -Heather

“One of our coaches, Courtney, recommends to her clients that they say action words like, ‘Your gums are bleeding. Your tooth is cracking. Your tooth is decaying.’ And I really love that.” (27:52—28:07) -Angela

“Grant yourself grace. You've been doing it one way for so long. Grant yourself grace. Start small, even if you eliminate one word. Focus on one of the words that we talked about and getting rid of that. And like Chris said, progress, not perfection, in the beginning.” (29:21—29:36) -Heather

“Think about it as a mindset shift or a mind shift. So, don't start your morning huddle and say, ‘Okay, we’re never going to say the word “little” anymore.’ Let's have a team meeting. Let's talk about the mind shift. Let's talk about the pitfalls that might be there. Acknowledge that, yes, we have done it this way for a long time, and we’re going to make a shift. And talk about it. Talk about why it’s important. And then, start the process.” (29:38—30:10) -Christina

“In the end, this is all about patients’ health. And if they understand what's going on in their mouth, we can get them closer to health. I think that's the most important thing.” (30:27—30:37) -Angela

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

2:10 What ACT coaches do and why they're amazing.

4:29 The problem, and why it’s so big in dentistry.

5:15 Minimizing language, explained.

8:19 Where to start.

10:49 Don't minimize exams and diagnostics.

13:54 Other words and phrases to be aware of.

16:26 The minimizing language jar.

18:10 Patients will devalue what you minimize.

20:50 Celebrate your successes.

21:59 Have a place to document your language.

22:52 Your entire team needs to be calibrated.

23:24 Unintentional benefits of changing your language.

25:12 Practice makes progress.

26:48 Eliminate the minimizing words.

28:31 Make it black and white.

29:08 Last thoughts.

Christina Byrne Bio:  

Christina Byrne has been involved in dentistry since 1985. Over the years, she has held many positions on the dental team, including dental assistant, business office, and dental hygienist. Christina’s extensive knowledge of the front office and clinical procedures is a great asset, and she loves to impart her knowledge to guide dental teams do the best they can to achieve a Better Practice, Better Life!

Angela Heathman Bio:

Angela Heathman is a Lead Practice Coach who works with dentists and their teams to help them accomplish their goals. She believes the hard work you do on your practice is just as important as the work you do in your practice!

Angela has over 20 years of clinical dental hygiene, dental sales, and practice coaching experience. When she transitioned from her role as a clinician to her role as a sales account manager, she realized both her passion for education and practice development. Angela holds a master's degree in dental hygiene education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Heather Crockett Bio:

Heather Crockett is a Lead Practice Coach who finds joy in not only improving practices but improving the lives of those she coaches as well. With over 20 years of combined experience in assisting, office management, and clinical dental hygiene, her awareness supports many aspects of the practice setting.

Heather received her dental hygiene degree from the Utah College of Dental Hygiene in 2008. Networking in the dental community comes easy to her, and she loves to connect with like-minded colleagues on social media. Heather enjoys both attending and presenting continuing education to expand her knowledge and learn from her friends and colleagues.

She enjoys hanging out with her husband, three sons, and their dog, Moki, scrolling through social media, watching football, and traveling.