Patients see things differently than dentists.\nOften, what is important to dentists is not important to patients and vice\nversa. This seems like the hysterical discovery of the obvious, but dentists\noften have a blind spot when it comes to seeing things from a patient’s\nviewpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We often have a similar blind spot in our\nability to communicate with patients. When asked to rate their ability to\ncommunicate with patients, 60% of physicians rated themselves in the top 10%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dentists would probably have similar results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Communication is key to any relationship. Why\nthen do healthcare professionals, dentists specifically, often have poor\ncommunication skills with their patients? There is no one answer to this\nquestion, but we (dentists) all struggle with communicating with patients at\nsome level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dentists often get a bad rap – in the media,\ninterpersonally, and even in the movies. We (dentists) are often starting with\na disadvantage in the relationship with our patients. Some patients, who may\nreally need and want care, have preconceived notions such as fear without\nbasis, an unpleasant past experience, or the idea that they just can\u2019t afford\nit. It is more difficult to build a trusting relationship in these situations.\nOf course there are many patients who love their dental office, but there are\nstill even many of those patients who dentists have trouble communicating with.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think the biggest problem we (dentists) have\nin many of these communication issues is time. Dentistry is a business, and an\nexpensive business to run efficiently. When time is money, dental income to\nsupport the business comes from work being done in the chair. This creates yet\nanother blind spot for the dentist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dentists may be great tooth fixers but in\ngeneral are poor communicators. Anyone can drill on a tooth but not everyone\nhas meaningful communication skills. When was the last time a dentist sat down\nwith you for an extended conversation to discuss your personal situation, the\nimportance and relevance to getting good dental care and its significance to\nsystemic health? When was the last time a dentist helped you work through your\nparticular barrier (fear, money, time, lack of concern, trust) to getting a healthier\nmouth? I know I have room for improvement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meaningful communication skills come more\neasily to some than others. For most of us, it seems it is always work in\nprogress. I\u2019m sure you can think of numerous past experiences of poor\ncommunication and realize later how the situation could have been better\nhandled. I can think of many. Our way of communicating is often engrained in\nus. If we wish to improve our communication skills we (dentists and everyone)\nmust first become aware or more mindful of these interactions. Only then can we\nwork on improving this skill. That takes time, and time is again a factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dentists need to recognize, fully understand\nand be able to manage the different barriers that prevent patients from getting\nthe care they deserve. Every patient has their own issues, their own concerns,\ntheir own personality and their own true or false notions about dentists and\ndentistry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relationships take time to develop. Talk with\nyour dentist about anything that is holding you back from improving your dental\nhealth. These conversations build trust. Trust is the key factor in the\ndentist-patient relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026.to be continued<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. St. Clair maintains\na private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to health-centered\nfamily dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to see written about\nor questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Patients see things differently than dentists. Often, what is important to dentists is not important to patients and vice versa. This seems like the hysterical discovery of the obvious, but dentists often have a blind spot when it comes to seeing things from a patient’s viewpoint. We often have a similar blind spot in our ability to communicate with patients. When asked to rate their ability to communicate with patients, 60% of physicians rated themselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1093,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}