What personal questions should a dentist ask during the exam to build rapport with a CDP patient?
Open-ended, friendly questions that surface common ground without feeling like an interview. A short list works for almost every patient: where they are from originally, how they came to live in the current city, whether they have family, what kind of work they do or did, whether they have pets, and what they like to do for fun. The doctor can ask these all at once or, much better, drop them in casually during the clinical exam when there are natural pauses. The doctor offers their own answers when the patient asks back. Common ground surfaces and gets noted briefly. The conversation has a real chance of producing genuine rapport rather than feeling like checkbox social engineering. The questions are not filler. They are deliberate connection-building that runs in parallel with the clinical work. Patients leave the CDP feeling that the doctor genuinely got to know them, which translates directly into willingness to engage with the recommendation that follows at the case presentation.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.
