If patients are causing you stress, remember that they may be affected by their own stress. When patients exhibit “difficult” behavior, it’s easy to feel like the victim. Remember, kids will be kids. They probably don’t want to be in your office and their challenging behavior may be a reaction to that. If you can get in the habit of seeing it this way, your potential irritation will lessen… and even if there’s no excuse for the patient’s behavior, you’ll experience less stress anyway.

Management Monday: Read a free excerpt from Dr. Roger P. Levin’s popular book, Management Scripts for the Orthodontic Practice. Go here and click on the “Read an Excerpt” button.