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
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