Show, don't explain: charting treatment in 3D
A patient sits in the chair. You've found decay under an old filling on a lower molar, and the tooth will probably need a crown. You explain it carefully: the old filling, the crack, what happens if they wait. The patient nods along. Then they say they'll think about it.
Most of the time, they aren't saying no to the treatment. They're saying no to something they can't picture.
Why a good explanation still gets a "maybe"
Dentists think in tooth numbers and surfaces. "The distal of 36." "The root on the upper left." It's precise, and it means almost nothing to someone who has never seen the inside of their own mouth from that angle. A hand mirror doesn't help much either.
So the patient is asked to do three hard things at once:
- Imagine a tooth they can't see.
- Trust that the problem is as serious as you say.
- Remember all of it well enough to explain it at home.
That last one matters more than it looks. Many treatment decisions are made at the dinner table, not in the chair. If the patient can't repeat what you said, the conversation at home ends with "let's wait," and waiting becomes the decision.
A picture changes the conversation. You and the patient are looking at the same thing. They can point at it, ask about it, and carry a clear image of it out of the room.
Show the tooth before you say the price
Order matters. If the first number a patient hears is the total, everything after it gets heard through that number. They stop listening to the problem and start doing sums.
A calmer order works better:
- Where. Show the tooth, and the part of it that's the problem. One surface, one root, one gap.
- What. Show what you'd do: the crown sitting on that tooth, the implant filling that gap.
- How much. Only now, with the plan on the screen, give the price.
By the time the number arrives, it's attached to something the patient understands. The question shifts from "why so expensive?" to "when can we start?" Not always, but often.
Give options as separate treatment plans
Many cases have more than one reasonable path. A crown or a large filling. An implant or a bridge. Everything now, or the urgent work first and the rest in a few months.
Putting all of that into one long list confuses everyone, including the front desk later. Build each option as its own treatment plan instead, with its own treatments and its own total. Then move between them while the patient watches.
- Name each plan plainly. "Implant", "Bridge", "Urgent work first". The patient should know which one they're looking at.
- Stop at two or three. More options feel like homework, not choice.
- Say which one you'd choose, and why, in one sentence. Patients want your judgment, not just a menu.
Keep it short, then let them look
A visual explanation isn't a lecture with slides. Two or three minutes is usually plenty. A few habits help:
- Turn the screen toward the patient before you start talking.
- Start with the tooth that matters most. One tooth at a time.
- Use their words. "The back tooth on the left that hurts when you chew" beats a tooth number.
- For children, show the parent the child's own teeth, not an adult mouth.
- When you've shown it, stop. Silence gives them room to ask.
- Before they leave, make sure they know the name of the plan and its total, so the conversation at home has something to hold on to.
How the chart does the showing in Naab
In Naab, the chart you plan on is the same one you show the patient. There's no separate presentation to prepare.
The 2D teeth diagram uses FDI numbering, or quadrant numbering if your clinic prefers it, with adult and primary teeth. You drag treatments from the catalog onto a tooth, a surface, a root, a jaw, or the full mouth. Each treatment has its own color, so the patient sees at a glance what's planned and where.
The 3D viewer is the part patients remember. Open and close the bite, turn the mouth around, and see the crown, the implant, or the brackets on the tooth itself instead of hearing them described.
Several treatment plans per patient. Build each option as its own plan and switch between them in front of the patient.
Prices come from your catalog. Every treatment carries the price you set, so the plan shows its total as you build it. No calculator, and no numbers from memory.
You can see it all on the clinical features page. Charting is part of every plan, Free included, so you can start without paying and try it with your next patient.