How do I make a dental exam exciting enough to charge a real fee for it? First admit the problem. Most exams are boring, and if yours looks exactly like every other exam the patient has sat through, you have given them no reason to pay more or to choose you. That is the trap. The way out is to put some real substance behind it. Move to risk-based treatment planning, where you are openly evaluating function, decay and caries, perio across hard and soft tissue, and esthetic risk. You are reading a snapshot of this mouth and telling the patient [...]