The A–Z of motivation in dental practice

Someone once asked me ‘how on earth can you stare into people’s smelly mouths all day? Therein lies the source of my motivation really. I am hugely motivated by the prospect of helping someone improve their oral health, whether it is to help them reduce their plaque scores or give up smoking. Tailoring the advice that I give to help motivate the patient to change is what motivates me.

Most people struggle to motivate themselves to do the mundane or boring. The secret to achieving your goals is to seek out the motivational button in what we do.

A is for audit—a useful tool for ensuring standards and reviewing routine procedures are in practice. Thinking that the practice is doing well is quite different from actually proving that they are in a measurable and reproducible way.