How often do you get a call at 3:00 in the morning from a patient in need? Most of the time, I don't get too many. However, last night at 3:00 in the morning, I got a phone call from a patient of mine. I had operated on him nine days before. It was a simple procedure.

I took out a tooth, did a bone graft, and sutured it closed. He healed uneventfully. He was on Plavix, which we had stopped a few days before the surgery, and there was no bleeding after the surgery. However, last night, he started to bleed nine days after the surgery, and he couldn't control the bleeding. He was also 10 hours away on vacation in a remote part of Canada, north of Ottawa. He was quite panicked.

His wife was panicked too. They were both talking at the same time. You know how that goes. He's talking, she's talking, and I'm trying to figure out what's happening with him.

So I calmed him down and told him that he wasn't going to die from the extraction bleeding and that we just needed to get it under control with some gauze. I had him rinse out, put a teabag up there, and bite down on some gauze with pressure for 40 minutes. It stopped for an hour but then started bleeding again. So he called me back at five in the morning. At that time, I said, "You know something? You're so far away, you don't want to have this bleed and bleed and bleed."

I wanted to make sure he was taken care of because if I didn't, he thought the worst was going to happen. I said, "Stop the Plavix and let's get to the nearest periodontal or oral surgeon." Well, it took him five phone calls. I gave him all the contacts in Ottawa before he was able to get to a standard oral surgeon who was able to stop the bleeding.

The surgeon put in some gauze, applied pressure, and used a clotting agent. The patient must have written me five or six thank yous. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You were there for me in my time of need," etc.

Patients never remember when things go right. Most of us don't remember when things go right. If I ask you to think about your patient, that one patient you had a big complication with in the last year or two, you can remember that patient's name. It is John whatever. And you know what happened during that patient.

I don't like when things go bad. However, what I found is that I don't make my reputation when everything goes smoothly, because it does 95% of the time or maybe even sometimes greater. I make my reputation, and you will build your reputation, by doing things properly. When things go wrong, that's when you make your mark.

You can do all the marketing in the world. You can do Instagram ads, Facebook ads, and mailers, etc. They don't mean a thing if you're not there for a patient when they're in need. I can guarantee you that this patient is going to talk about the time when his periodontist in Connecticut called him, when he was in Ottawa, not only once but four times over the course of this morning, got him in to see an oral surgeon, and stopped the bleeding.

He thanked me so much. He said, "You're going above and beyond. Thank you so much." It was a pleasure for me to be able to do that because that's why I got involved in this field. I got involved in this field not to make money, although we all want to make a living.

I got involved in this field to make people comfortable with the procedures that we do that are very difficult for them to go through. The extraction went smoothly for him. However, seven, eight, nine days later, he started to bleed. So it's so important to be there for patients. I know in the past I've had great doctors who have been there for me when I've had my hand surgery.

Dr. Wolfe at Hospital for Special Surgery was great when I had my hand surgery. I've also had doctors who I won't mention by name that were not there for me, and I remember their names as well. I always remember Dr. Wolfe because he was there for me when I had my hands operated on. But I also remember Dr. so-and-so whose name I can mention when I had a bad experience. So it's important to be able to give our patients some good experiences because patients don't know what's going on.

We happen to be very skilled in doing one thing: dentistry. I don't know much about much else. Okay. I know a little bit about music. I don't know much about law.

I don't know much about finance. But I do want to have people around me when things are going badly in those areas who can take care of me. So the thing that we can do that's most important for our patients is to be there for them when they are in need. Because to us, it's routine. We do this every day.

We've done thousands and thousands of extractions and implants and surgeries or veneers or bridges or whatever. They haven't. They've done what? And during that time, if things aren't going well, there's nobody that can make them feel better except for us. I've seen doctors walk into patients and not connect with the patients. They go, "How are you doing? On a scale of one to ten," etc. They don't care about one to ten. They want to be taken care of at that moment. And so what do I say? "We're going to take good care of you. Everything's going to be all right."

I assured him of that. I've just gotten a phone call from him a couple of minutes ago. He just texted me. He said, "Thank you so much. The bleeding has stopped. I'll let you know if I need you."

So next time in your practice, when something goes wrong, look at it as an opportunity, an opportunity to be the gift to your patients. Have a great day, everybody. And that's good advice for you and for your patients.