Does my appearance as a dentist affect whether patients say yes? Yes, more than you want to admit. Patients are running instinctual judgments on you the second you walk in, and those mechanisms operate 24/7 below conscious thought. Liking is one of them. People say yes to people they like and trust, and a large part of that first read is how you present yourself. Your appearance, your grooming, the way you carry yourself, it all feeds the patient's gut decision about whether you are the kind of doctor who does excellent, careful work. This is not vanity. It is recognizing [...]