As orthodontists, compliance is essential in achieving successful treatment outcomes. We provide our patients with the necessary tools and instructions, but sometimes, despite our efforts, they don’t follow them. Lack of compliance can prolong treatment and compromise the results we aim to achieve. The good news is that developing good habits is not impossible, and there is a framework that can help us guide our patients toward compliance. In this blog post, we will review the four principles for developing habits from Atomic Habits by James Clear that we can apply to improve compliance in orthodontic treatment.
Make it Obvious
Making it obvious is one of the most critical aspects of developing good habits. In orthodontic treatment, this translates to educating our patients about the importance of following instructions, properly wearing clear aligners and elastics, maintaining oral hygiene, and keeping appointments. We can give them visual aids such as calendars, reminder cards, or even smartphone apps to leverage notifications. The key is to design the environment and make the cues of good habits more visible. Wearing retainers can be more noticeable when patients keep their retainer case near their toothbrush and other nightly routine habits before bed. Doing this can stack the habits and make the retainer wear obvious since it will follow tooth brushing before bed.
Make it Attractive
Developing good habits that stick also requires making them attractive. In orthodontic treatment, we can make compliance more appealing by making it a positive patient experience. We can engage from the initial exam showing outcome simulation to further entice keeping the end in mind. Then, we can reward them for their efforts through verbal praise, reward point systems, and positive feedback in their remote monitoring apps or in-office. Finally, we motivate our patients to continue their treatment plan by making compliance attractive.
Make it Easy
One of the reasons why patients don’t comply is that it can be overwhelming or time-consuming. We need to make compliance easy for them. In orthodontic treatment, this means providing our patients with clear and concise instructions. They need to be easy to follow and simplify the process. Whenever we start a clear aligner case, we make their start visit simple. We emphasize and focus on their priority of wearing their aligners. Make it easy and avoid adding more steps like wearing elastics or performing IPR at their initial visit to keep their appointment simple. Additionally, we can offer flexible scheduling options, allowing them to schedule appointments around their busy lives and provide virtual monitoring to reduce visits. We remove barriers that prevent our patients from following their treatment plan by making compliance easy.
Make it Satisfying
Lastly, good habits need to be satisfying. In orthodontic treatment, this means showing our patients their progress and celebrating milestones. It can be as simple as satisfaction in finishing each aligner and moving to the next. Using a virtual monitoring app, we can instruct patients to reward themselves. It can be done with positive praise after completing each week of aligner changes and showing their progress. It is essential to have immediate rewards in habit formation. We can take progress pictures. It shows them how their teeth have moved and leverages the Clincheck final result to remind them of the end goal. By making compliance satisfying, we give our patients a sense of accomplishment and motivate them to continue with their treatment plan.
Conclusion
Developing good habits is critical in achieving successful orthodontic treatment outcomes. By applying the Atomic Habits framework, we can guide our patients toward compliance and make the process less overwhelming. By making habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying, we can motivate our patients to follow their treatment plans. As orthodontists, we have the power to make a positive impact on our patients’ everyday lives by helping them achieve a beautiful and healthy smile.
