Expectations from treatment

Patients may have unrealistic expectations given to them by the media, friends, family or preconceived notions. However, the notion that dental work lasts forever is a difficult one to build. It may be a hope that they hold that the hard earned money they pay will result in teeth that will last them the rest of their days but whatever built up that notion in their head needs to be torn down before any treatment is commenced.

An individual who has survived to 60 years old is highly likely to live till 80 or even 90 so the days where the "elderly" were promised lifetime lasting work is long gone. We must plan for restoration replacements late into life. Often times it is the dentist themselves that builds up these expectations in patient's heads that the work will last forever and part of this stems from our overconfidence in our work and insecurities about failure. We often are tempted to provide guarantees about our work to convince patients of certain treatment plans but this will always come back to bite us in the bum.

If a patient enters the hospital system for a surgery, no guarantees are given, no promises of a refund. If the surgery fails then the surgery can be redone but at a cost to either the patient or the health system. Similarly, we must learn to understand the limitations of our work and to do away with the promises of longevity. Feel free to quote the literature but the patient must know there are no guarantees in life and you have to support the costs of your business somehow. If the patient has an issue with this, you must have the confidence to refuse treatment and point them to someone down the road who is overconfident enough to provide them the guarantees that they are seeking.