A new patient comes into your office and one of the first things she says is “I don’t want x-rays!” When questioned why not, the reason is that she simply feels that she does not need them, nor does she want the radiation. What would YOU do?  This is a question that we received, so please listen in to what Dr. Richard Madow and Dr. David Madow have to say. Then of course we do the call of the week. Since we are on this topic, we call an office asking if we could come in as a new patient and not have any radiographs taken. Listen in to see how they handle it! If you have a question that you would like answered on our podcast, please send it in to podcast@madow.com. We will do our best to get yours answered!

Do All New Dental Patients Need X-Rays? What if Your Patient Refuses?

Female Voice: The Dental Practice Fixers Podcast is brought to you by the Madow Center for Dental Practice Success. To find out how we can help increase the success of your practice, check out madow.com or call us at 1-800-258-0060.
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Dr. David Madow: A new patient is in your chair. Everything seems great, although they say I do not want any x-rays. What do you do? We’re going to answer that in Episode 12 of the Dental Practice Fixers. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I am Dr. David Madow, along with…
Dr. Richard Madow: Dr. Richard Madow, your co-host and fellow Dental Practice Fixer. Thanks so much everybody for being with us today. And thanks most of all for all your great comments about the Dental Practice Fixers, and going on iTunes and giving us a good rating. Feel free to do that all you like and tell your friends. Most of all, send us your questions. It may just wind up on an episode of the Dental Practice Fixers. We’ve got a great question for Episode 12. I’m just going to get right down to it. And here’s our question for today. It says, Dental Practice Fixers, I had a new patient recently. A young woman who absolutely refused to have radiographs taken. She assured me that she was not pregnant. No way in hell was her exact phrase. No way in hell. She didn’t believe in x-rays. She felt they could be dangerous and didn’t want them; she wasn’t having any problems. If her dental condition was 100% immaculate, I could maybe have let it slide. But she did have two crowns, a few restorations and mild gingivitis. I loved that. Mild.
Dr. David Madow: Little mild gingivitis. Very mild.
Dr. Richard Madow: Garden variety gingivitis. I told her I could not see her as a patient without x-rays, and she raised a big fuss and walked out. Loved that. Could this have been handled differently? From Dr. Amy in Aurora. Dr. Amy in Aurora, we don’t know if that’s Aurora, Illinois, Aurora, Colorado. Maybe there’s some other Auroras out there, but it doesn’t matter Dr. Amy. Great question. So after that whole scenario, let’s start by her main question and see where it goes. And that is could this have been handled differently? What do you think?
Dr. David Madow: I’ll tell you something, from what Dr. Amy in Aurora…
Dr. Richard Madow: Dr. Amy in Aurora or is it Dr. Aurora in Amy.
Dr. David Madow: It could be Aurora – maybe Aurora Borealis?
Dr. Richard Madow: Maybe Aurora Miracle.
Dr. David Madow: Maybe. I know it’s always limited because when somebody’s writing in a question, they don’t write a whole dissertation. They don’t know everything. But from what I heard in the questions; Rich I think she handled it right. I mean could she have tweaked the language a little bit, could she have done something? Maybe. But here’s what I’m going to say, and maybe we’re not this deep into it yet. But I’ve got a general feeling and I’ve got to let this out. I’ve got to let it out.
Dr. Richard Madow: Hold on, go ahead.
Dr.