5 Essential Dentist Skills and Qualities

A dental career comes with many perks, including a professional designation, a potentially lucrative business and a way to serve the public, one smile at a time. While this is a great and rewarding life path, it comes with challenges.

Dentists must correct various dental issues for their patients, connect with them, and positively influence their habits for better oral health. Beyond that, they need to run their business efficiently and embrace different challenges within their field of work.

Let’s look at the dentist’s skills and the qualities it takes to succeed.

Communication Skills

Diagnosing an oral patient seems straightforward; you just look in their mouth. This will give them a clear view of the dental problems they must correct, but they must also communicate with the patients.

A dentist builds a rapport with those who seek their help, a relationship of trust that must be built over time. They interact with clients all day, from initial greetings to explaining their oral conditions, and they must simultaneously be enthusiastic, knowledgeable and confident.

They also should have good bedside manners to put people at ease, especially children. Once the visit is over, a dentist must go over what they did and ask for payment as well, and this can be tough, especially with the high cost of medical care.

Ultimately, excellent communication skills will keep patients returning. Still, this skill will be useful for dealing with other professionals they work with, like hygienists, lab technicians, sales reps and their staff.

Professional Skills

A dentist is a skilled person who has spent years getting training and certification to be able to practise. This is a professional role, and dentists should conduct themselves as such using a combination of skills and behaviour to provide the best care they can. Beyond the patient visits, they must also use high-quality equipment and apply rigorous safety standards.

Dentist must build strong relationships with their dental supply store and acquire the best equipment, supplies and materials for their practice. As with everything in life, there are ways to cut corners, but this should never be done with the tools and supplies they use in their practice.

Patients deserve the best care, which comes down to a dentist with a high work ethic and one who acquires the best tools of the trade.

Detail Oriented Skills

Dentistry is as much an art as it is a medical profession. A skilled dentist needs to be able to shape, colour, augment size and change the appearance of teeth using a high level of technique and mastery. These skills will build up over time, but attention to detail makes them successful.

The goal of a dentist is to always make a person’s teeth look natural, regardless of the procedure, and you want to not only meet their needs but also exceed their expectations. This comes from every step of a dentist visit, where they gain information through asking questions, giving thorough examinations and applying their skills during the procedure.

While a dentist must budget their time accordingly, they should never be in a rush but rather take the time to provide the best treatment they can for every patient.

Compassion

Compassion can be defined as “suffering together,” but when used in the medical profession, it is the ability to understand and help.

Compassion for your patients means exploring your patients’ concerns and understanding the situation that leads to their dental issues. A compassionate dentist wants to help and is motivated to do so to create a positive environment while providing physical and emotional comfort.

Many people are terrified to see a dentist or have neglected their teeth for a long time and are embarrassed by what their dentist will find. You must put them at ease immediately and let them know that your only goal is to give them the best treatment for their dental problems and provide care for as long as they need it.

Calm Demeanour

Dentists must gain and retain the trust of their patients by not only being relaxed, even under stress and competent in their procedures but also balancing their personal lives through physical and mental self-care. This will allow them to give their best to their patients and exemplify how professionals conduct themselves.

Building these skills and qualities should be paramount for every dentist, regardless of whether they just graduated from school or have a well-established practice. In return, they receive respect among the community and a happy clientele, spreading the word with a big smile.