The average dental clinician may perform as many as 60,000 patient encounters during a career. Until recently, the relationship of communication skills to important outcomes was not well known. New communication approaches have been developed that will increase the likelihood of patient adherence to preventive and therapeutic recommendations. This CE webinar is designed to introduce the dental professional to effective communication strategies that will ultimately lead to increased patient adherence as well as to elicit positive patient behavior change.

Upon completion of this CE Activity, the student will be able to:
• Discuss challenges dental professionals face regarding patient adherence and behavior change.
• Appraise the patient’s readiness to change using the Stages of Change model.
• Explain the spirit of Motivational Interviewing as it relates to health behavior change.
• Demonstrate effective communication approaches for patient education to increase acceptance of professional recommendations.   ( disclaimer, bio and commercial disclosure )