Thinking Time

Thinking time for curve balls (baseball term)

Occasionally a patient I have been treating comes back to the review appointment having a problem with a denture I have not encountered before (a ‘curve ball’). Often when this happens the patient is upset. This makes me feel anxious and start to doubt my professional abilities, meaning my judgment and diagnostic skills are impaired.

In these situations, I have found the best thing to do is to explain to the patient that I do not have an answer to the problem right now and I require some thinking time. I see them again a few days later which gives me time to carefully consider their problem and come up with a well-considered strategy to help.

I find these situations, although stressful at the time, are a great opportunity to learn and improve my service.

Denture Blog 10

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