That first all important meeting with your patient!

Diagnosis and treatment planning in dentistry is a partnership starting with the patient leading the oral history. By the end of the consultation, an autonomous patient makes his/her own choice based on the clinician examination and consultation, given risk, benefits, outcomes and consequences. A dental clinician with a clear understanding of the motivations and expectations of the patient will maintain a robust dentist/patient relationship in the future treatment. This may be regardless of the technical success of the treatment. This understanding will commence in the first few appointments and will continue throughout the treatment. However, in general practice, while we focus on the dental centric problems, we may miss the bigger picture. This article is an attempt to put some thoughts around the first discussions with the patient, as it is well known that first impressions count. As a general article, it is not the aim to discuss systems that dentists work within but to provide some examples of how to balance patient and dentist expectations. In view of the different approaches to treatment planning, the aim of this article is to provide indicators on how to manage the patients' expectations alongside the dental competencies related to the management of partially dentate patients. Although the article has a bias to prosthodontic treatment, the take home messages will be the same for any patient/dentist consultation.