DENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH
COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN THE DENTAL PRACTICE: A REVIEW
Vesela Aleksandrova 1a, Maria Stoykova 2b, Nina Musurlieva 2c *
1
Dental practice, Bonn, Germany
2
Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University, Plovidiv, Bulgaria a
DDS, Dental practitioner b
DDS, PhD, Professor c
DDS, PhD, Assistant Professor
Cite this article: Aleksandrova V, Stoykova M, Musurlieva N. Communication skills in the dental practice: a review. Stoma Edu J. 2016; 3( 1): 63-67.
ABSTRACT
Received: March 2, 2016 Received in revised form: March 17, 2016
Acccepted: May 3, 2016 Published online: March 18, 2016
Background: In recent years, there has been a lot of research on the relationship between dentists and patients on the factors that cause the patient to follow a treatment and be loyal to his dentist. Objective: The purpose of this review is to study the literature related to communication in the dental practice. Data collection: The articles reported in this literature review were searched on the PubMed database. Outcomes: According to some authors, 65 % of the information is transmitted by means of non-verbal methods and only 35 %- verbally. In this respect, the following have been described: models of behavior dentist-patient; Harter’ s steps sequence of patients’ involvement in the health care decision-making process; Sahm’ s, Bartsch’ s and Witt’ s research on the importance of communication, according to which the information properly received by the patient is related to the satisfaction of the treatment. Some assessment tools for the psychological state before and during the treatment have been described- scale Corah, Gale and Illig-( DAS) for measurement of the anxiety from dental treatment;( DFS)- measures the level of fear of treatment; Janke’ study with its own developed and standardized questionnaires-( STAIDFS); Corah’ s tool for assessing the cognitive, emotional and behavioral satisfaction of patients-( DVSS). Conclusion: The conclusion to be drawn is that dentists should be trained and in their work should apply adequate communication methods, tailored to the individual characteristics of each patient, to build confidence between each other. Keywords: communication skills, dental practice, dentist-patient relationship.
1. Background
In modern health care it has become more important to involve the patient in his treatment decisions. There are many arguments to support this statement. With the increasing influence of the media, access to medical information is constantly increasing. It has been observed that patients increasingly demand more information and want to be involved in the decision-making process, which is, according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient, their inalienable right. 1-3 In recent years, there has been a lot of research on the relationship between dentists and patients, on the factors that cause the patient to follow a treatment and be loyal to his dentist. The aim of those studies is to define the role of verbal and non-verbal communication used during the dental treatment.
The aim of the following research is to make a review of the literature related to communication in the dental practice.
2. Data collection
The articles reported in this literature review were searched on the PubMed database considering only scientific journals written in English and German. The keywords selected were“ communication skills”,“ dental practice”,“ dentist-patient relationship”.
3. Outcomes
Creating trust between a doctor and a patient plays a major role in the success of a therapy. To build this trust, before starting treatment, the dentist should inform his patient about: diagnosis and prognosis of the disease; upcoming tests; potential risks they carry and the subsequent therapy; treatment options. The approach, of course, must be strictly
* Corresponding author:
Assistant Professor Nina Musurlieva, DDS, PhD, Faculty of Social Medicine and Public Health Medical University 15 A Vassil Aprilov blvd, BG-Plovdiv 4002, Bulgaria Tel / Fax: + 359888312499, e-mail: nina _ mussurlieva @ abv. bg
63