Trust is the foundation of any successful business. For dental practices, establishing that foundation can be a challenge. An increasingly wide range of technologies have emerged, however, which make it much easier to meet that challenge––helping practices build trust across all the various touch points in the patient dentalcare journey to facilitate greater loyalty, increased referrals and revenue growth.
In a virtual event hosted by Becker's Dental Review and sponsored by Pearl, Kyle Stanley, DDS, chief clinical officer of Pearl, and Roshan Parikh, DDS, president at dntl bar — an innovative dental practice group in New York City — discussed the trust challenges that DSOs face, how technology can help overcome them and the results the come from doing so.
Four key insights:
- Dentistry struggles with trust because of treatment discomfort, inconsistent treatment plans and negative media portrayals. According to a Gallup poll cited by Dr. Stanley, 40 percent of Americans distrust dentists. "It's sometimes painful to go to the dentist, and treatment plans can vary widely," Dr. Stanley said, also noting the negative portrayal of dentists in the media. "We're behind the eight ball simply because we're dentists."
DSOs face additional trust issues because of the lack of an individual provider-patient relationship, a distrust of large companies and because an isolated bad experience can negatively affect the entire organization.
- Trust must be developed throughout the patient journey. Patients must believe that their dentist or DSO will provide competent care and have their best interests in mind. The time periods when patients usually develop those beliefs are:
- Before the visit. Trust is built when a dentist has good reviews and strong credentials, and when a patient has a positive scheduling experience.
- During the visit. Trust is built if the appointment runs smoothly, if the dentist is knowledgeable and transparent, if support staff are friendly and warm, and if the treatment is consultative and as pain-free as possible.
- After the visit. Trust increases when follow-up communication is timely and complete and when the patient has no unexpected surprises in terms of side effects or costs. Over time, trust is built when patients develop rapport with office staff who anticipate needs. Trust is built when patients experience consistency in scheduling, efficiency and treatment plans. While all visits are important, the first visit is particularly important in building trust.
- Technology can help trust-building initiatives. Artificial intelligence performs key trust-building functions, reduces dependence on human expertise, scales easily, creates consistent brand experience and promotes a perception of quality. "AI is a practice's surest path to patient trust," Dr. Stanley said.
Dr. Parikh agreed, noting that radiologic AI in conjunction high-definition and 3D imaging boost patient confidence in their care while improving clinicians’ performance. He added that technology can also play a key role how patients experience – real and anticipated – when visiting a practice. "We have heated massage chairs and patients can watch Netflix or listen to meditation tracks," Dr. Parikh said. "All of those things help alleviate anxiety that can be associated with pain." In addition, Dr. Parikh believes that technology such as high-definition imaging helps clinicians improve their performance.
- Patient trust leads to loyal patients, an increase in elective procedures, more referrals and revenue growth. Dr. Stanley shared that while on average, a loyal patient may bring in $8,000 in value over 10 years, that revenue triples when a loyal patient refers two other loyal patients. In addition, expensive specialty treatments can generate significant revenue. Dr. Stanley provided data from marketingcharts.com showing more than two-thirds of patients say trust is even more essential for large purchase decisions.
Pearl's Second Opinion is the first and only chairside FDA-cleared AI radiologic detection aid that can help dentists consistently identify numerous pathologies in chairside, in real time. This type of technology can help dentists and DSOs build the patient trust that is critical to long-term patient retention and revenue growth.
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