The Importance Of A Prompt Follow-Up With A Dental Patient

People have a tendency to think more highly of people or businesses who take them seriously and show concern for their satisfaction and wellbeing. This extends to your patients as well. Those who receive a prompt follow-up from your office in any scenario will be more likely to return to your office and even to recommend you to family and friends.

The Importance Of Following-Up

We have a few scenarios in place regarding the reasons for a follow-up call to a patient, and why it could be beneficial:

• In the first scenario, you have diagnosed a patient with a tooth infection, but the patient has yet to make an appointment for treatment. It’s possible that your dental practice has millions of dollars wrapped up in patients just like this, who have been diagnosed but not yet treated! It’s important to follow up with these patients and let them know the value of treatment. Make sure they understand their diagnosis and the problems that can occur if treatment is avoided.
• In this scenario, a patient has called the front office with a question regarding his bill. Your receptionist will need to contact his insurance carrier to answer his question. You need to make sure that your team knows how to adjust their daily to-do list to follow up with this patient. Make sure they know to resolve the issue and get back in touch with the patient as quickly as possible. It’s important to your patients that their problems are taken seriously.
• In our last example, you have placed a crown on a patient and sent her home. However, when the anesthesia wears office, your patient notices that the crown is a little high and her bite feels a little off. Unless advised otherwise, many patients will just assume that this problem is normal and will correct itself. As a dentist, you know that this isn’t the case. This is why it’s important to make a call to patients a day or two after treatment to make sure everything is ok with treatment. If the patient mentions anything out of the ordinary, you can take this opportunity to fix the problem and gain back the trust of your patient.

The extra effort made to follow up with your patients will pay off in the end, as they learn to trust that you and your staff care about their problems and well-being. For more information on retaining current patients or bringing in new ones, please contact Pro Dental Designs today.