Why do I need to prepare patients for cost before the fee conversation? Because an unprepared patient hears a big number as an ambush, and an ambushed patient says no. By the time you discuss fees, the patient should already sense that real treatment carries real cost. You build that across the whole process, not in one panicked sentence at the end. Every visit gives you a chance to seed it, to hint at the scope, to soften the eventual number so it lands as expected rather than shocking. The dentists who skip this are the ones who watch faces fall [...]