After all I've done for them?


Sometimes  dentist's forget we are running a business. We often form personal attachments to our patients and may forget that they are coming to our office for dental work and essentially they are "customers". There is a lot of talk by consultants who advise dentists on business matters about how to successfully run a practice. Our patients are "clients" who come to us to satisfy their dental needs and more and more it is a financial transaction.

Call me old fashioned, but I really feel that the doctor patient relationship can be much more. Our patients, at least those who come back over and over, put their trust in us. After all they know little about dentistry and depend on us for help making dental decisions and judge us on our dental outcomes. Hopefully we help them choose wisely and are able to execute predictable dentistry for them that will stand the test of time.

I have many patients who travel from relatively far away to visit our practice their trip to our office can take more than an hour commute and some come from even further away. It makes me proud that they place such a high value on our office's dental care and really continues to make practiing dentistry seem worthwhile.

Other people who visit can  take our care more or less for granted. It doesn't seem to matter that we have cared for their mouths successfully for decades, choosing a dentist is in part a matter of convenience. Almost like choosing a hairdresser. Some place a high value on their hairdresser as well while others seem to make changes easily,  placing convenience above all else.

Some of my patients who start going to a local dentist sheepishly explain that if they need something major they will come back to us, but for now they are trying out a dentist from their neighborhood. I must confess that when this happens my feelings are hurt and I may for the moment think "after all I've done for them!" but this feeling passes quickly and I realize people go where they want to go, but  the good that I have accomplished is real, whether it is fully appreciated or not. I know what I have done and the ways that I have helped and ultimately that is my real reward. Money is nice, but the feeling of performing a public service is a much a bigger payday for me as well as most of the other highly skilled dentists I know!




from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2019/07/after-all-ive-done-for-them.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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