Dr. Sonny Spera, DDS talks to Dr. Justin Trosclair DC on A Doctor's Perspective Podcast.
Patient experience begins with communicating in a way they
understand but also discussing all the dental...
Dr. Sonny Spera, DDS talks to Dr. Justin Trosclair DC on A Doctor's Perspective Podcast.
Patient experience begins with communicating in a way they
understand but also discussing all the dental options. We discuss pH acidity, the
trouble with direct to consumer braces and TMJ treatment. Dr. Sonny Spera, DDS
doesn’t hold back.
Dr. Sonny Spera had
so many people tell him to not be a dentist growing up, why was that? How a
strong support system helped him stay the course and become who he is today? He
has a fun backstory of coaching basketball at Buffalo while attending dental
school.
Why can endo (root canals) be so difficult? Can a root canal cause cancer later in life?
Where did that thought pattern come from?
Customer Satisfaction
Try to understand the patient history and where they are
coming from in regards to past dental experiences as well as any barriers they
may have to starting care.
How important is it to understand personality types (DISC
for example) with not only your staff but with patients? Dr. Spera gives a few
examples of how if you adapt the way you communicate with different personality
types, you can get better compliance.
pH Balanced
What does pH have to do with your teeth health? How can we
improve it to the optimal pH?
Any benefit to drinking “smart” water over tap or bottling
companies that sell filter tap?
What are the biggest offenders that create the acidic
environment that can cause bacteria to thrive and create cavities? (hint: soda, acidic water, sugary and carb
loaded foods)
Did you know only 20% or less actually floss at all.
Did you know that marathoners, cyclists, or triathletes tend
to have poorer dental health because of all the sweet energy drinks they
consume training.
Xylitol – what is it and how does it help alter the pH in
your mouth to stop the bacteria.
Patient Experience
You have to have build a connection. You need to care about their oral health and
ask questions about pH, does your jaw click or pop, does their bite line up,
are you grinding at night and do you suffer from sleep apnea.
Give patients the options to fix their oral health concerns.
Don’t judge them by what they wear.
Roughly 10% of patients are audio learners (especially when
in pain), think of ways to show them visually what’s wrong and how to fix the
problem.
Dentures are a solution but the nutritional intake drops
50-75% so you want to offer solutions before it gets to that point.
Braces with No
Dentist?
There are several companies, SCD, that seem to be
circumventing a dentist and offering braces after a scan and/or molds are
performed of your teeth. They are going
straight to consumer, sort of how pharmaceuticals direct market to patients to
ask your doctor. Are dentists upset
because of turf wars, laws being broken or potential poor outcomes even really
bad consequences because of bad orthodontics? Invisalign is also getting into this market
and potentially pricing some doctors to not offer it or don’t provide the
support or makes even more liability fall on the doctors even if they do things
by the manual.
How good is the education about orthodontics?
TMJ
Certain cases of TMJ are remedied fairly easily with a mouth
guard (NTI). Dr. Spera goes into more details about how this can relax the
masseter muscle, improve sleep, stop headaches and preserve the teeth.
Relationship advice: make time for your spouse. Never forget
why you choose each other and don’t let the kids rule your relationship. Take
vacation for longer than a week so you can truly enjoy your time away but have
a doctor to fill in for you so you don’t lose all that practice revenue.
Books: James Patterson
Michael Crichton
www.progressiveny.com sonnyspera@gmail.com 6076242962
Show notes can be found at http://www.adoctorsperspective.net/140 here you can also find links to things mentioned and the full transcript.
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