The truth is that dental implant patients exist in every single practice. It’s how practitioners discuss implants with patients that counts. The confidence to diagnose, select and inform patients of dental implant options which will benefit them comes from education, practice and reflection.
The growth in a practice through the application of dental implant treatments comes from excellent grounding and training and a confidence to talk to people about treatments that will improve their lives and overall improve their health. The difficulty we find is that many dentists are not confident in discussing both implant treatments themselves and also the cost of implant treatments to patients and therefore there is a communication breakdown which means less patients take up patient care.
When I worked in a wholly NHS practice in a run down area of Derbyshire we were placing hundreds of dental implants a year because the conversations with patients were honest and clear and they could see the benefits that related to them and were happy to uptake the treatment. Starting implant cases in these circumstances often seems like a chicken and egg situation where it’s difficult to find the patients but because it’s difficult to find the patients, it’s difficult to gain the confidence. That’s where mentoring and advice comes in, take the educational information that you’ve already gained in patient assessment and then be able to discuss cases with your mentor or experienced colleague who will allow you to give good advice to patients in a confident way which will allow them to feel good about up taking treatment.
In the early stages of your implant career have a mentor present in surgery with you to be able to carry out the treatment in a safe and controlled way so that you can gain the confidence to move forwards and the next time you come across similar cases you’ll be able to talk to the patients with ease about the possible treatment options which may benefit them.
Implants are obviously not the only treatment option available to patients and to be able to discuss all options with patients for their benefit in a relaxed fashion is the secret to building rapport, trust and an overall excellent clinical service for patients.
Starting to place implants in that environment is much easier as patients will trust you entirely because you trust yourself to be honest in the treatment options you’re suggesting.