Where patients for your clinical requirements come from

People you know

This is where first cases come from. The advantage is trust: they come because they know you, and being treated by a student does not worry them.

The cost is particular, though. Someone close to you finds it awkward to refuse and awkward to say they will not be coming, so confirm an arrangement with a relative exactly as you would with a stranger. Ask which day they can come, not whether they would like to.

Colleagues in the years above

A patient who has already been treated at the faculty knows what to expect and is easier to bring back. When a colleague finishes with a case, that person often needs something else — and the colleague does not need them.

This works in both directions, and the patient arrives with a colleague’s recommendation behind them. Tell people what you are looking for, specifically: not "I need patients", but "I need a single-canal tooth for November".

The department itself

People arrive at departments without an appointment, and a teacher sometimes passes on a case that does not suit whoever took it. Which cases are accepted, who they go to and how they count is decided by the faculty and the teacher, not by the student.

What is up to you is that the department knows what you are looking for and when you are free.

Notices and groups

A noticeboard at the faculty, a university group, a neighbourhood group — these reach people who have no other way of finding you. The replies here come from people nobody has examined, and often describe something quite different from what you need.

Two things before you post. Write in your own name — the notice is yours and not the faculty’s, and it must not read as though the faculty is offering treatment. And remember that what you write in a group stays there and is read by everybody, patients and teachers included.

Platforms

UniDent is one of them, and here is exactly what it does. People who have been looking for a student describe their case and the days they can come. That list is free to read for any registered student — you can see what people in your city are asking for before you have paid anything.

• For a patient to find you in search you need a photo of your face. Without one your profile is not publicly visible at all — this is not a question of ranking.
• Reading the waiting list is free. A subscription is what lets you answer a waiting patient and take them on.
• The subscription starts at your first connection with a patient, not when you register.
• You do not see a name, an email or a phone number until the patient chooses you.

Whatever the channel, three things do not change

Availability decides before the tooth does. If the person cannot come at the hour of the department you need, the case is not yours, however suitable it looks. Matching times is its own topic and is covered in "How to fill your clinical quota faster".

Do not diagnose from a description or a phone photo. What is needed is decided after an examination and an X-ray, and the teacher confirms the plan. For what to ask in that first conversation, see "The first conversation with a patient".

One patient leads to the next only if the first time went well. Somebody who came once and left satisfied may come back and recommend you — and that is the channel you cannot build with notices.