I wrote a blog about the importance of technology in our practice to patients. I started thinking about that and wanted to pass on a few words of wisdom that my father, also a dentist, gave to me when I was younger and worked for him as a dental assistant.

My dad knew that I wanted to go to dental school. I told everyone I wanted to be an orthodontist since I was about 9 years old. Well obviously that never happened, but I have landed my dream job. My dad was always a pretty progressive dentist, but he told me two things that I should remember in order to be a successful dentist.

The first: Talk to patients as if they are friends or family, not as if they are "just patients.' Get to know about them and their families, and have your staff do the same. Find out about their interests and inquire about them when they come in for their future visits.

The second tip he taught me was to learn to give a great injection. He made me practice once on a piece of fruit, and when I went too quickly he told me that that patient would be flinching or in tears. He told me to place topical on the tissue for at least five minutes, and to go as slow as I could while injecting. He said when I didn't think I could go any slower, to slow down more.

The line that I always remember him saying is that doing these two things well is so important because patients don't know whether or not we do good dentistry; they just know 'was he nice to me and did he hurt me?'

When I wrote my previous blog, I started to think about this saying and I realized that even though technology is very important in my practice, patient relationships and comfort are still number one. I practice by those words of wisdom my dad taught me over 20 years ago and maybe I didn't listen to him all the time, but I'm sure glad I did during that conversation....and so are my patients!