Your treatment coordinator should be thoroughly familiar with dentistry. An experienced dental assistant with excellent communication skills, who may be getting a little burned out with chairside work, and who is looking for a little higher pay, is an excellent candidate. Get someone likeable.
You, the dentist, do the examination, with the treatment coordinator assisting you and taking notes. You determine all the clinical parameters. Set a range of options of what you consider acceptable treatment. Then turn the treatment coordinator loose with the patient. She (or he) will explain the proposed treatment to the patient, will discuss the options available, will answer all the patient’s questions, and will total the cost. If you have a video imaging computer, she will prepare a simulated photograph of how the treatment will look. If financial arrangements are necessary, she will set up a meeting with your business manager and may help the patient fill out the credit approval forms. She will explain insurance benefits to the patient.
The treatment coordinator may come back to you for any unusual questions from the patient, but, other than that, she will take care of the patient entirely. She will return to you for final approval of the treatment plan the way the patient has accepted it, before any work is scheduled. That is the limit of your involvement until you see the patient for treatment. Patients will feel pampered with attention. They have time and access to get all their questions answered. Frequently patients will call back and ask to speak with the treatment coordinator for further questions about treatment. When you begin to treat the case, the treatment coordinator will present you with a computer-simulated photograph of the case the way the patient wants it, along with any notes about the patient’s preferences.
Doing cosmetic dentistry requires excellent communication with the patient. Your patient can’t feel rushed or pushed, and must feel that the person delivering the information has their best interests at heart. Excellent dental care, especially cosmetic dental care, doesn’t happen without a high level of trust felt by the patient. And an excellent way to achieve that communication and trust is with a highly trained, personable treatment coordinator.
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