Ethical Selling Dentistry|Dental Practice Advice Archives

Why Patients Want Free Dental Advice and Your Limit

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Why do patients try to get my professional advice for free? Because it is human nature, and you need to stop being surprised by it. People naturally try to build an arrangement where you help them and never get paid for it. Some of that is fine. There are parts of what you do that you give away on purpose, and you systematize where that line sits. But there is a limit, and if you have no system, patients will happily walk you far past it, collecting your diagnosis, your plan, and your reassurance, then taking all of it down the [...]

Why Patients Want Free Dental Advice and Your Limitjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Informed Consent Versus Selling: Not the Same Job

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

Is informed consent the same thing as case acceptance or selling? No, and confusing the two gets doctors in trouble. Consent has nothing to do with the sales conversation. The options discussion, the fee, the takeaway, all of that is about helping the patient decide they want treatment. Consent comes later, going into the actual doing of the procedures. At its core, consent is headache prevention and legal-problem prevention, nothing more romantic than that. The better you set realistic expectations as part of obtaining it, the better off you are both short term and long term. So don't try to bundle [...]

Informed Consent Versus Selling: Not the Same Jobjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What You Owe a Patient You Cannot Help

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What do I owe a patient I cannot help after the consultation? You owe them a next step. It is rare, but sometimes you finish the interview and honestly conclude this is not a patient you can help. When that happens you do not just send them out the door. As a professional you are obligated to figure out where they should go and point them there. That is not a sales rule, it is a duty of care. The same ethics that let you confidently accept the patients you can help require you to redirect the ones you cannot. Think [...]

What You Owe a Patient You Cannot Helpjames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What You Owe Patients: A Courtesy Referral

james2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00

What do I owe a patient who cannot afford the work? Three things, and you owe them as a professional whether or not you ever earn a dollar. First, minimize the time you make them invest in learning what is possible, because dragging them through a long consult for treatment they cannot fund is cruel. Second, minimize their emotional investment for the same reason. Third, prevent their embarrassment. Nobody wants to sit there feeling exposed about what they cannot pay for. The cleanest way to honor all three is to be prepared, especially at free consultations where this person most often [...]

What You Owe Patients: A Courtesy Referraljames2026-06-16T00:00:00-04:00