Missing hygiene patients is an untapped goldmine in a practice. The potential production increase by recovering these missing patients can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.

The reason we see a lot of missing hygiene patients is that most practices are not properly communicating the value to them. The way to get them back is to focus on building that value.

Here are a few keys to do that:

#1: Put Yourself in Their Shoes

When encouraging patients to get preventative care, it's important to thoroughly consider their perspective. Ask yourself these questions:

• Why should a patient want to have this treatment done?
• Why would you want to do it?

#2: Offer Guidance

Patients are seeking knowledge to make the best decision and they value the opinion of their provider. So, to be more effective when talking with patients about what they need, don’t be afraid to tell them what you would do if you were in their place.

For instance, “If this was in my mouth, this is what I would do to fix it.”

#3: Focus on Direct Benefits:

Instead of explaining in great detail exactly how a procedure is done, explain the benefits of having it done in terms they understand.

For example, “When we place implants in your mouth, you will be able to chew without pain, just like natural teeth. There will be nothing to take out and clean, you will be able to brush and floss these teeth as you did before. By the way, have I told you that implants have porcelain crowns on them that look just like natural teeth?”

In the video below, Wendy Briggs discusses this topic and how to add $327,808 in hygiene production: