Understanding Patients Boosts Treatment Success

Most dentists miss the single biggest predictor of treatment failure and it has nothing to do with

technique. I spent fifteen years perfecting my clinical skills, attending every

course, mastering every procedure. My success rate was good but not

great. Then one patient changed everything. She needed a complex restoration and

I executed it flawlessly. Two months later it failed. I was devastated. When she returned,

instead of discussing the redo, I asked about her life. Turns out she was

grinding her teeth due to severe work stress. That conversation revealed what textbooks

never taught me. The most critical factor in treatment success is not your hands,