The Best Tip I Ever Got On Starting Esthetic Conversations
BY DR. MARK MURPHY, DDS, FAGD
As many of you know, I no longer practice traditional dentistry. I teach and lecture in the Practice Management and Dental Sleep Medicine arena and still act as a consultant for some practices with leadership issues. However, when I DID do restorative dentistry, I often struggled to start the conversation with patients about how their teeth looked. I tried the common question, “If you could snap you fingers and change one thing about your smile…what would it be?” That always seemed a bit forward or pseudo-manipulative. It also assumed that they wanted to or would change something, or that I was implying that their teeth needed improvement. So, if they loved their smile, I was being intrusive. Then one day, I was teaching a shade taking course and I was gifted an accidental "aha" moment.
After explaining all of the advantages of digital shade taking, 3D Master, Classic Shades and the Vita Linear Guide, one of the participants (who already owned a digital shade taking device) said his best use of the technology was to start a conversation about esthetics with patients. My head spun around, I looked him in the eye and said, “How do you do that?” Simple, he explained….
As part of every new patient comprehensive exam, I do all the usual things; periodontal charting, TMD evaluation, dental exam, muscle palpation, joint auscultation…you know the drill. Then at the appropriate time during the dental charting portion, I advise the patient that we are going to take a baseline shade of their teeth. He used the digital shade device (but you could simply use a shade guide), and quietly and thoroughly held up and matched several tabs. Then he called out the values, and the assistant wrote them down on to the next step of the exam (whatever your sequence would be). But wait! Patients who are interested in their esthetics, shade, or what may be possible to improve their smile, always stopped him and asked, “What shade was I?”. There had been no comparisons, patient inputs, or judgment about their smile or the appearance of their teeth. Simply, they had quietly taken and recorded the shade. He told me, and I agree, there are only two kinds of patients in the world when you do that. The ones who ask their shade, and those who don’t.
The patients who ask are opening a dialogue on their terms about their teeth, smile, or esthetics. No tricky questions or ‘in their face’ assumptions, just open and honest curiosity about what may be possible. I liked it and used it many times over the years. It worked close to 100% of the time. It gave the patient a way to start a conversation that they likely wanted to have, and that you were already thinking about. I would suggest organizing your shade guide by value from the brightest (highest), to the darkest (lowest), so that when you show the patient their shade, they can see the possibilities. Sometimes their shade was already great, and the discussion slid into shape, contour, position, or gumminess. All good. Be prepared, be open, and consider letting your patient start this conversation. It is very likely to go somewhere productive.