Why great treatment plans often go unaccepted, and what we can do about it.
This week I had the pleasure of leading a seminar at Perfect Smile Dental Ceramics on a topic I'm passionate about.
We started with the fundamentals of DISC behavioral style analysis, looking at the four core styles (Dominant, Influencing, Steady, and Conscientious) and how each one shapes the way a patient hears information, weighs risk, and makes decisions. A patient who wants the bottom line needs a very different conversation than one who needs every detail, or one who needs reassurance before committing.
From there we connected those insights to comprehensive treatment planning, covering how to structure and sequence a plan so it's clinically sound and also presented in a way the patient can actually understand and say yes to.
I closed by introducing TreatPath, the software my son and I developed to bring these ideas into everyday practice. Once the team understands a patient's behavioral style, TreatPath helps them present the treatment plan on an iPad in a format adapted to that style, replacing the confusing spreadsheet-style printouts most patients are handed. The goal is simple: fewer patients leaving undecided, more patients getting the care they need, and stronger case acceptance for the practice.
Thank you to the Perfect Smile team for hosting and to everyone who attended. To learn more or try TreatPath free for 60 days, visit getTreatPath.com.
— Dr. Dave