PAGD Keystone Explorer Winter 2020

2 www.pagd.org | president’s message We have all heard the saying before that a picture is worth a thousand words, but at times in dentistry, a picture is priceless because it leaves us needing little to no words at all. This is often precisely the case with intraoral photography and at times with digital radiographs. A picture does all of the talking when a patient is able to see a photo of their current condition. In this scenario and many others, a picture is all you need to “explain.” Of course, we can’t and won’t move forward with treatment without actually explaining our findings and treatment recommendations, but you get the gist here. And while this blurb might seem like common knowledge or old news to those of you, like me, that use your intraoral camera as often as you whip out a pen, there are many practitioners that do not use this “tool” as readily or even at all. I hope this helps to change that. As a young-ish dental professional, I often wonder if my more experienced colleagues spend as much time explaining their treatment recommendations or themselves to their patients. I have observed many other dentists practicing in various settings throughout my career and would suggest that the answer here is “no.” Forgive me for any of the following stereotypes here, but I have witnessed and assume that less explanation or feeling the need to explain less come with time and experience and with increased patient relationships and trust built over time. However, I was trained in a generation where explanation to a patient was not a choice. It was a requirement. I find dentists trained in other generations often say, “You need a crown.” That is the end of the conversation, and they get busy crowning the tooth. While this certainly seems glamorous to someone who is used to giving a mini dental education day in and day out to their patients, in my day of training, this falls short of the minimum required discussion we must have with our patients. Unfortunately, the more one talks, the more it seems like you are unsure of yourself or are trying to convince a patient to do the treatment you suggest and are offering a million reasons why they should believe you that such is the case. This is a real challenge and a tough balance to strike for young dentists. This is why I love photos. Whether they are intraoral photos or radiographs, they can help us to build trust when trust and respect do not yet exist. They also help to limit the word pictures I need to draw for patients who are not as able to imagine things as we are as dentists. It also helps to document. I can only dream of the days when dentists could have the “you need a crown” discussion and their clinical notes read “crown #30.” However, those days, as some of you likely fondly recall, are over. For those of us who have never experienced those times, photographs help to initially establish that relationship and develop respect and trust that dentists in decades before us were granted simply because of their title. On the contrary, nowadays, patients present having done their own research and are readily prepared with their findings and, at times, their arguments. I have experienced the former with my older patients. These patients grant me the ability to do whatever I feel is best with little or no question. They are the “you’re the doctor” type of patient who allows you to make the decisions and proceed as you see fit. However, the up-and-coming generation presents having their own opinions and facts and often take more educating, or should I say re-educating, to confirm or correct what they have read online. Two major things that I have mentioned which have helped in my ability to develop my image with patients, ironically, are images. Digital x-rays and intraoral images have been two of the “tools” that I have used that have most greatly assisted not only A Picture is Worth a ThousandWords Leigh Jacopetti-Kondraski, DMD “Digital x-rays and intraoral images have been two of the “tools” that I have used that have most greatly assisted not only in my ability to gain trust and educate patients, but also to increase treatment acceptance. ”