Dee Dee Reid
The Conversation Beneath the Conversation™
Description:
Patients rarely make important treatment decisions based on clinical information alone. They may understand that they need care and still hesitate, delay, or say no—because understanding a diagnosis is not the same as discovering what the care means for their life.
Beneath every surface objection, unanswered question, and stalled decision is another conversation: the patient’s beliefs, fears, priorities, experiences, and hopes. In this dynamic and practical presentation, Dee Dee Reid draws on a dental career spanning nearly four decades to show doctors and teams how to recognize what is being communicated beneath the words, replace assumption with curiosity, and help patients connect the clinical dots for themselves.
This is not about scripts, pressure, or traditional closing techniques. It is about creating the conditions in which patients discover their own meaning, move from “I know I need this” to “I want this for my life,” and make confident, patient-owned decisions about their care.
Objectives:
By the end of this presentation, attendees will be able to:
- Differentiate surface-level patient objections from the unspoken concerns, beliefs, and meanings that influence treatment decisions.
- Recognize verbal, nonverbal, and contextual signals that indicate when a patient needs greater understanding—not simply more clinical explanation.
- Apply curiosity-based questions and a human-centered conversation approach that helps patients connect clinical findings to what matters in their lives, creating greater ownership, confident decisions, and follow-through.