How do I find a patient's real motivation for treatment? You have to dig for the pain that is driving them, because that is the thing that actually moves a case forward. Sometimes it is physical, a tooth that hurts or a denture that flops around. Sometimes it is aspirational or purely emotional, and sometimes it is just that their spouse or their neighbor did it. None of those reasons are wrong. Your job is to find the one that is true for this person, and then keep checking, because the reason often shifts as you move through the consultation. Fear [...]