little to do with lack of desire. It’s more commonly associated with a lack of verbal skills, and that is exactly why we do this exercise. When we role-play as a team, we develop the confidence and ability to communicate with our patients. This development of verbal skills helps us to educate patients on topics like fluoride, transillumination, or vertical dimension as it pertains to periodontal disease. Bringing an entire team together to go over scripts isn’t the norm for most practices. It feels unnatural in the beginning, but it’s a crucial Gem to have your entire team using the same playbook. Sure, the first time we run through a script, it sounds robotic and inauthentic. But if you were acting, you would rehearse your lines until they became second nature. The more reps you have with those lines, the more you can make them your own. When Tom Cruise yells into the phone, “Show me the money!” during “Jerry Maguire” he’s reading and acting on something scripted, but it comes off as authentic. Now, don’t yell that line at your patients, but definitely deliver the information you have to better their lives in the same genuine way. When you develop the appropriate verbal skills to discuss the relationship between gum disease and lost vertical dimension, you can immediately add value to your patients’ lives. Once they understand the realities associated with the threat in front of them, you can then open up an honest and frank discussion about treatments — and how they can pay for it. Most insurance isn’t going to pay for much of the cost of periodontal treatments, and that’s not a bad thing. Some patients will decline treatment, but our research shows that at least 10 percent of the population will still want periodontal treatment even without insurance. How many of you are going to say no to a 10 percent cash increase to your practice? That’s one Gem you can take straight to the bank. And, by deploying our Periodontal Verbal Skills combined with the laminated Jawbone Damage Graphic, you are likely to enjoy a far higher level of periodontal phase I case acceptance in your practice. Having our entire office all on the same page verbally means the patient experience from the front desk, to the hygienist, to the general practitioner is fluid and consistent. As a hygienist, I see the immense value in this because of the power it provides to assist with diagnosis. Patients will often connect with their hygienists more than with their doctor, and that presents an opportunity for a Gem that very few practices use. While a hygienist can’t diagnose, they can start the conversation about possible treatments the doctor may recommend. Dr. Orent trained his five hygienists to tell patients exactly what they saw and recommend … but to begin by saying, “Mrs. Jones, I’m not a dentist, so I can’t diagnose or write your treatment plan … but I’ve been working with Dr. Orent for four years and I’ve seen this hundreds of times. I can tell you exactly what he’s going to say when he sees what we are looking at here …” (then go ahead and tell them what they have and what they believe the doc will recommend).
How to Use Words to Fight Infection and Make Money
By Lisa Weber, Certified GG12 Coach
Being a part of the Gems family means you’re never far away from a concept that can change your practice forever. We provide tangible resources — Gems, as we like to call them — that will help you run a better practice, have happier, healthier patients, and create a better life for yourself. As a GG12 coach, I can show you how to apply our collective knowledge to help you mine these Gems and unearth deep value in your practice that was right there hiding just below the surface! One of the biggest, brightest, and best Gems I can share with you has to do with vertical dimension. If you navigate over to the site map of our website, InsidersCircle.com, and find the Goldmine Underground Team Training Toolkit, you’ll see a Gem labeled “052 — Protect Patients’ Health and Add $100,000 Perio Per Year.” It’s no secret that gum disease can cause you to lose teeth, but we often fail to adequately address the more severe threats associated with extractions and dentures. In some cases, the progression of periodontal disease leads to irreversible jawbone damage. The eventual result is permanent disfigurement and lack of vertical dimension. We all know this, but we rarely use it when presenting the threats of periodontal disease to our patients. Why? Every week, when my team and I come together for our 90-minute meeting, we start off with a simple role-playing exercise. There are many reasons for doing so, but the two biggest are developing verbal skills and ensuring our entire office uses a unified glossary of terms to be certain we are “all on the same page.” Failing to address the impact of gum infection on lost facial (vertical) dimension with patients has
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