3 Simple Reasons Your Patients Aren't Accepting Sedation

Sometimes, in this day and age of information overload, we miss—or just forget—the most obvious things. It's like looking for your glasses when they are right there on your face.

Let's apply the "obvious theory" to increasing your sedation acceptance rate.

How can you immediately increase the number of accepted sedation cases in your practice? Start with the patients right there in front of you.

Here are three simple reasons your patients aren't accepting sedation:

#1: You're Not Talking About Sedation Enough

How often are you having the "sedation conversation" with your patients? Don't wait for them to ask you about sedation, or bring up the fact that they have anxiety or a phobia. Most people don't like to talk about their fears; some people don't even recognize that they have anxiety or fear until someone brings it up.

Make sure that you're making sedation a part of every applicable treatment consultation. Don't assume the patient isn't interested. In fact, a recent study found that most dentists underestimate patient demand for sedation (we wrote about it here)—don't become a part of the statistic.

Here are some numbers from the study to chew on:

"[I]n respondents with low fear, 12.4 percent were definitely interested in sedation or GA and 42.3 percent would be interested depending on cost. These numbers increased in the high fear group: 31.1 percent and 54.1 percent, respectively. Preference for these services by procedure type were: 7.2 percent for cleaning, 18 percent for restorative, 46 percent for extractions, 54.7 percent for root canals, and 68.2 percent for periodontal surgery."

#2: Your Patients Don't Understand the Benefits or Process

A little bit of education can go a long way; this is certainly true for sedation. When you're presenting sedation as a possible part of a patient's treatment, are you also talking about all of the benefits of sedation? A patient may have heard of sedation, but that doesn't mean they know about it.

Take the time to lay out the benefits of the treatment and describe what it does and how it works. Go through the protocol (in layman's terms) step-by-step with your patients. Ask if they have questions about the process or benefits. This way your patients are at the very least making an educated decision about whether or not to accept sedation. (This is also an excellent opportunity to present sedation brochures or videos to your patients so they can read about the process at their leisure.)

#3: Your Patients Think Sedation is Not for Them

Put yourself in your patient's shoes. For some, sedation may sound like an extreme measure for a dental treatment; patients may think it's reserved only for people who require very extensive dental treatments, or for those with debilitating dental phobia or other severe conditions. Going back to Reasons #1 and #2, make sure you're talking about sedation and explaining who can benefit and what it does.

Another patient concern is about safety. Some patients may think that sedation is a dangerous treatment. Sometimes it's just a matter of explaining the process of sedation to a patient to allay his/her concerns; you should also make sure the patient knows the rigorous training you've been through in order to practice sedation dentistry.

Communication. Communication. Communication. That's the bottom line here. Don't assume that someone doesn't want sedation, or already knows about it, until you've had the "sedation conversation."