{"id":5939,"date":"2019-10-11T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/?p=5939"},"modified":"2021-05-20T14:26:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T19:26:55","slug":"be-the-guide-not-the-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/2019\/10\/11\/be-the-guide-not-the-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Be the Guide, Not the Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We care deeply for our patient family and are oral-systemic experts.\u00a0 Because we have invested enormous amounts of time and money in quality education, we know best what people need for strong teeth and a long health span.\u00a0 Our patients appreciate this and always listen intently to what we tell them they need to do.\u00a0 They happily reach into their wallets and hand us their credit card.\u00a0 Right? In my 34 years of clinical experience: Wrong! \u00a0People buy what they want, not necessarily what they need.\u00a0 We must build our communication skills to equip each patient to understand their personal benefits of dental care from an oral-systemic (ad)vantage point.\u00a0 When they want and trust our expert options, we have the opportunity to provide the highest quality of care.\u00a0 Be the guide, not the hero.<\/p>\n

Utilizing coaching tools is one way to do this.\u00a0 Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a non-directive communication skill that involves active listening and thoughtful questioning to deepen thinking — allowing patients to find their own solutions. \u00a0Developed in part by psychologists William Miller and Stephen Rollnick, this patient-centered approach allows people to feel empowered and responsible enough to act. \u00a0I was first exposed to MI during my training at Mayo Clinic in Health and Wellness Coaching and have found that patients really appreciate being respected and listened to. \u00a0Unfortunately, that is becoming rare in healthcare settings.\u00a0 This communication skill allows people to explore and resolve their ambivalence to new ideas.\u00a0 While we as dental professionals are still in a position and have a responsibility to advise, first things first!<\/p>\n

Begin thinking about asking open-ended questions to start a conversation rather than first giving directives or asking closed questions that can be answered with \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 Here are three examples to get you started:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What concerns you most about the current direction of your health?<\/li>\n
  2. What do you want to be able to do when you are 70?\u00a0 (Pick an appropriate stage in life and let them dream.)<\/li>\n
  3. Tell me about your energy level\/quality of sleep\/bowel habits.\u00a0 (Consider this question carefully because they will tell you everything!)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Each of these open-ended questions can start meaningful dialog and help patients open their minds to the benefits of OralDNA\u00ae salivary testing.\u00a0 The amygdala, the emotional area of the brain, controls our instantaneous response, discerning between good or bad, safe or threatening, friend or foe.\u00a0 Emotional decisions do not typically produce long-term commitment; we want to guide patients to resolve questions with their prefrontal cortex – the area designed for decision making and \u201cexecutive function.\u201d\u00a0 When health decisions originate from thoughtful understanding, the patient becomes the hero of their own health trajectory and are highly likely to refer their family and friends for more of your wise guidance. The concrete, objective results from salivary testing visually helps patients arrive at their decisions.<\/p>\n

    In the sage words of Winston Churchill, \u201cI am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.\u201d\u00a0 Be the guide, not the hero.\u00a0 It may seem counterintuitive; but, in the long run it cultivates happier and healthier patients.\u00a0 And that is exactly what creates a good day at the office!<\/p>\n

    For more information on how to become an OralDNA Provider \u2013 scan HERE:\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a non-directive communication skill that involves active listening and thoughtful questioning to deepen thinking — allowing patients to find their own solutions. Open-ended questions can start meaningful dialog and help patients open their minds to the benefits of OralDNA\u00ae salivary testing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":5990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108,110],"tags":[9,112],"class_list":["post-5939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-education","category-salivary-diagnostics","tag-bacterial-testing","tag-patient-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Debbie-Ozment-Blog-Image-Small.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7W16z-1xN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5939"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7707,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5939\/revisions\/7707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oraldna.com\/trends-in-salivary-testing\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}