It’s not quite the “needle in a haystack.” Actually, there’s more accessible and insightful benefit to analyzing and utilizing clinical data for preventive dentistry and treatment planning.
The value of data goes beyond the occasionally overwhelming minutiae. Technology such as a dental dashboard equipped with analytics software can make sense of cumulative patient care data.
- More informed dental care
- More proactive dental care
- More personalized dental care
Like other industries are experiencing, there’s power in data analysis. Clinical data in dentistry can be moved from charts and files into the patient experience to reshape how you approach preventive care, treatment planning and educating your patients.
Why the emerging role of clinical data in dental care is worth your attention (and more)
Trendspotting
Experience would tell you that certain dental issues are more prevalent among specific demographic groupings. Age, population centers and under-resourced regions provide clues about oral health issues.
Targeted data analysis can reveal patterns and trends relative to oral disease.
For example, you might notice a spike in gum disease or oral cancer among teenagers. This could be the result of diet, lifestyle or poor oral hygiene habits.
Whatever the data reveals could enhance your insight and enable you to provide information to patients about relevant preventive care.
Preventive education
Preventive dentistry is a common narrative. Yet the message can be lost due to familiarity.
Prevention often exceeds the cure. This encourages a strong emphasis in dentistry.
Clinical data analysis provides an educational bias on preventive dental care. Discovered insights increase awareness of common gaps and misconceptions about essential oral hygiene routines.
Data can be used to bolster your patient education.
- Personalized emphasis on preventive routines
- Cavity prevention utilizing data that compares hygiene routines with dietary choices, etc.
Intuitive treatment planning
Your patient’s journey to better oral health typically aligns with their positive response to presented treatment. Clinical data can expand your intuition about a patient’s dental history.
A more holistic view of their care journey could include past treatments, their response to recommended treatment, and their reaction to certain medications or indicators about disease progression.
Complex procedures could fall short of compelling a patient to accept treatment. Evidence-based dental treatment data has the potential to engage your patients by better predicting care outcomes.
Trust-based communication
Follow-through on treatment presentations could increase if your patient understands the “why.” Clinical data sharpens your narrative in a way that helps patients resonate with expected treatment outcomes.
For example, communicate data-derived percentages that compare patient follow-through with patients who delay, postpone or avoid treatment.
Data supported communication informs patients of the benefits while building trust in your expertise.
There’s no shortage of relevant clinical data. The key is mining the useful portions that can be used to support care trends, educate around preventive dental care, apply informed intuition for treatment planning and communicate trusted outcomes for treatment follow-through.
Explore the following related resources to sharpen your clinical awareness for improving patient care:
2 Factors That Are Useful to Understanding and Shaping Dental Patient Behavior Around Treatment
Follow a Data Mining Primer to Maximize Your Available Dental Patient Data
Utilize leading data analytics tools to refine your clinical communication
The Jarvis Analytics platform helps ensure that you’re tracking the important metrics and staying on track with your goals as your dental practice grows and expands.
Experience Jarvis in action. Request a demo today!
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Contact us for more information about data tracking that leads to stand out patient care and organizational profitability.
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