Let's Get Varnish on Your Patients
Looking for a new way to have better case acceptance with fluoride? Education! Education is a major part of any case acceptance, but definitely with a fluoride varnish treatment. Patients may not understand the benefits of spending the extra money in their appointment, and definitely won’t pay anything in addition to what their insurance covers if they don’t see the value.
How do I add value?
Adding value to varnish doesn’t look like a quick 2 second introduction to fluoride in the last 30 seconds on your appointment. Talk about fluoride from the 1st few minutes in the appointment. Do they report on their medical history they had cavities filled at their last appointment, or did they write down they have sensitivity? Talk about fluoride right then. It doesn’t have to be a big sales pitch- just introduce that there’s a product we can apply today at the end of your appointment that could help with (insert their concern). During radiographs, if you notice some decay areas, mention how there may be come cavities on this picture and that we should try some prescriptions to help prevent more. After the dental exam and the decay is confirmed, mentioning again that we should apply fluoride will highlight now important the application actually is. If we explain to our patient why the $15-$45 treatment is important for them specifically, your acceptance rate will definitely increase.
How do I make sure it is effective?
Definitely explaining the post op instructions is very important. I’m sure patients aren’t too excited if they pay for the treatment, then come back in 6 months and have more problems than the last recall appointment. Highlighting the importance of home care, and changing up that home care for the next 4-6 hours, can be critical. However, sometimes explaining the post op recommendations after an hour appointment doesn’t transfer to the patient as well as we’d love. If you don’t feel like patients are understanding the post op instructions, print them off! Ultradent has an easy download for you to print off and to have something physical for the patient to refer to. After your explanation, show the patient you’re putting the paper into their page for them to refer to later if they have questions.
Thank you to Ultradent for supporting us at Hygiene Edge! We’ve loved working with them and learning more about their company, their motivation, and how they support dental hygienists. If you’re looking for a new varnish to try (think different flavors like orange cream or caramel), Ultradent’s Enamelast may be for you! And they may or may not be having an amazing sale on Enamelast on Black Friday. Side note- all black Friday deals must be ordered online through your office’s account. If you don’t have one, make one today to make saving/checking out so much easier on Friday.