Unlock your patients’ potential through the media

Once they walk out of your practice, patients have enormous potential to demonstrate to the wider world the great work ADA members are doing.

How? By talking about their oral health journey, and how you helped them, in the media.
This could be through your daily newspaper, local TV or radio network or an online health magazine.

Case studies are the lifeblood of journalists and producers. Without them a story is only half told. It needs the human in the picture to bring it to life and make it real.

This has been demonstrated time and again with journalists requesting real people to demonstrate our messaging for Dental Health Week and other ADA campaigns. Without them we have a reduced likelihood of getting our key oral health messages out there.

That’s where you as clinicians come in. ADA Media is asking members to consider their list of patients and what dental work they have had, and how it might demonstrate an aspect of oral healthcare.
 

So what makes a case study? 

It doesn’t have to be new, ground-breaking or unusual. Often media want the everyday ordinary cases that demonstrate the bread and butter work you do such as:

- the 7 year-old boy who had his first permanent molars removed due to caries, 

- the 12 year-old girl with dental trauma who collided with a hockey stick during a match,
 
- the 30 year-old woman whose teeth suffered due to changes associated with pregnancy,
 
- the 45 year-old man with soft tissue burns from teeth whitening at home using over-the-counter products, 

- the 70 year-old man who needed new dentures to match his existing teeth. 
 

Benefits of engaging with media

Providing patient case studies to the media not only raises your profile as a clinical professional who’s doing interesting and worthwhile work, it also raises the profile of dentistry and makes people think more about their oral health. 

That means more regular visits to their dentist and more patient knowledge about why ignoring oral health has significant knock-on effects which could end up costing them more down the track. 

The powerful combination of your case study and the details of your clinical work treating them provides an attractive package to media and could result in local, national, professional and consumer recognition. 

Sometimes a case study will illustrate an issue going on in dentistry right now, such as a patient languishing on a waiting list while their oral health declines. Alternatively, your case study may illustrate an aspect of your work which is unusual, new or ground-breaking. Both are great reasons to send us the details.

It goes without saying that you would first obtain patient (and where needed parental) permission and ADA Media has permission forms to assist with that. 

Once you’ve identified a suitable patient, ADA Media will do the rest – liaising with a mutually-agreed media outlet, talking with you and your patient about what’s needed and providing media training so you’re interview-ready.

If you’re not sure if one of your patients fits the bill, or you know of a patient who’d be happy to share their story, contact ADA Federal Media Advisor Jenny Barlass on 0484 869 086 or email her at jenny.barlass@ada.org.au

We look forward to hearing from you.