By Mary Osborne, RDH 

One way to involve patients in making choices about their health is to ask for an invitation to give information. Everyone on the team can look for ways to get permission before taking action. For example, if the dentist observes bleeding or plaque while doing an initial exam, the dentists often say, “The hygienist will help you with that.” That’s okay but getting an invitation for the hygienist is even more helpful. Instead of telling the patient what the hygienist will do, the dentist could ask for an invitation. “Would you like the hygienist to help you with that when you see her?” Patients typically say yes, and that sets the hygienist up for a different conversation when she sees that patient.  

When the hygienist sees a note that the patient wants some help removing deposits in a certain area, she has been invited to give information. The hygienist can say, “So, I understand from the doctor that you’d like to have some help with being more effective at removing the deposits that are around this tooth on the lower right.” 

In this circumstance, I might ask the patient, “What have you tried in cleaning that area?” I pause and allow the patient to think and speak. Perhaps they would demonstrate how they brush or floss in that area. If I do make a recommendation to a patient, I like to follow it with, “Is that something you’d like to try?” 

The dentist and hygienist are a team, and the patient is the third team member in partnering for health. In ideal practice, all clinical and front office team members are part of the collaboration and share their understanding of the patient with each other. Many times, especially with elderly patients, I find there is a family member who is a health partner, and we can invite them to participate in consultations. In dentistry, when we become trusted health advisors to our patients, we can also influence their choices in other areas of their health.  

When we listen well, we can filter our information through the lens of improving overall health. We can make connections between their perspective and our own. When we understand the patient as an individual with special circumstances, opinions, and emotions, we can help them get in touch with their own aspirations for health and help them move toward those goals.