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dentures. The patient is 40 years old. Most certainly youwould not
agree to take out all the teeth. Likely, you will vehemently oppose
the notion of extracting all teeth and will strongly encourage just a
simple restoration on #4 to restore the tooth.
Apply this discussion to the concept of “selling” a CEREC
restoration. Why would presenting a CEREC treatment be any
different? If a tooth needs a restoration and you believe that the
CEREC restoration will be the best you can offer the patient, then,
by all means, you need to tell the patient that they need a crown.
When patients sense that you are not 100 percent convinced of the
treatment, then they will not be 100 percent convinced. So, make
sure that you present what is appropriate and not compromise. By
holding those standards, your staff will be on board, sense your
passion and will agree with what you have to offer the patients.
This topic deserves amuch larger discussion than can be accom-
modated on this page, but I will ask the dental community to do
one thing. Value what you do for the patient and believe that what
you are offering is the best that can be done.
The only reason that a patient believes a filling is possible on a
bombed-out tooth is because you, as the clinician, offered it as an
alternative to more definitive treatment. If a filling in your mind is
appropriate treatment, by all means do it. But don’t complain that
all your patients want to do are fillings when that is what you are
offering them as an alternative when you yourself don’t believe it
to be the best solution.
Later this year, we will have a tremendous gathering of CEREC
users in Las Vegas at CEREC 30. I hope that youwill be able to join
us —not only because there will there be some great speakers on
this very topic, but, more importantly, you will surround yourself
with successful and enthusiastic users. No doubt their energy will
rub off on you and, by simple osmosis, you will be able to have an
easier, more relaxed conversation with your patients on how best
to treat them.
For questions and additional information, Dr. Puri can be reached at
What ends up happening is the all-too-familiar statement from
the patient: “Doc, do whatever is the cheapest.” From this stems
the common frustration from clinicians that their patients won’t
do “ideal” treatments.
Often, I am asked, “What is the best way to present a case to a
patient?”What the doctor is actually asking is, “Howdo I prevent the
patient fromalways doingwhatever is the least expensive option?”
For example, a common complaint is: "I try to convince a patient
that a crown or an onlay would be best, but they always want to do
‘just a filling’.”
Entire books have beenwritten on this topic. Seminars are given
on this topic. Countless hours have been devoted to how to best
convince patients to receive the treatment they need.
And that is the crux of the discussion. We are trying to convince
someone tohaveaproceduredone that isgoing tobenefit theirhealth.
Does there really need to be a formal case presentation done beyond
just discussing the benefits of treatment? In other words, should we
even have to convince the patient to have treatment done?
If you have a patient with a blockage in one of their arteries,
does the cardiologist need to do a fancy case presentation for
them to convince the patient to have the appropriate procedures
completed so they don’t have a massive heart attack? Do they set
up PowerPoint presentations and create graphs showing them
before-and-after photos?
They may, but it’s not to convince the patients to have treatment
done. It’s to educate them on the benefits of that treatment. In
other words, why is simply presenting this kind of dentistry info
to patients so difficult?
For some reason, when a patient has decay in their tooth and
it risks damage, additional procedures or, worse, the loss of their
tooth, we feel the need to “sell” them treatment. In our world, as
CEREC dentists, we need to sell them a CEREC restoration.
Take this extreme example: A patient asks you if they should
have all their teeth extracted because #4 has a DO lesion, but every
other tooth is perfect. There is no decay, no periodontal issues,
nothing. The patient says, take them all out doc, and put me in
H A P P E N I N G S I N T H E W O R L D O F C A D / C A M
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B Y S A M E E R P U R I , D . D . S .
Keep It Simple
Value What You Do and Believe in What You Offer
i am a believer in keeping things simple.
We, as dentists, tend to complicate things too much, specifically when it comes
to presenting care to patients. We present too many options, giving patients choices for decisions that they don’t need to make,
and we confuse themwith less-than-ideal options.
