Appearance.

Most of us have the habit of judging a book by its cover. While this is a good way to select books in a bookstore, this approach backfires when you start judging patients and their paying capacity by how they dress, speak or appear when they come in your consultation chamber.

We all, including me, have made this mistake in our careers and paid a price for it. Let me give you a few examples of where this approach backfires. What if the pyjama kurta-clad elderly man has a son who is now settled in San Francisco and is paying for his father's treatment?

What if the young chap who looks like he has just come to the city from a village and wants a bright smile. You think that suggesting porcelain veneers will be foolish as he does not seem to have the money to pay for it, but what you do not realise is, that he has just sold a chunk of land and now he is getting married and wants the best smile on the most important day of his life!

So my fellow Gladiators, our job is to give all the options to the patient, and then let him/her select what suits the best to his wants and needs in life and not judge the patient and then decide what will suit his pocket, because that is not only unethical, it will prove unprofitable for your practice in the long run.