Dentist And Patient – Working Together

How a good working relationship between a dentist and patient helps provide the best outcome.

Conflict seems to be everywhere these days and you only have to take a look at the news or visit social media for a while to see that. Whilst conflict at a dental practice is thankfully very uncommon, it is still important that our team is trained and experienced enough to spot and deal with it early before it becomes a problem.

As we’ll see in today’s blog, there are key areas we work on to make sure that the dentist/patient relationship is as solid as possible and any chance of conflict is minimised, helping to ensure the best treatment outcomes.

Trust and anxiety

Being nervous about a visit to your local dentist is far from uncommon and having trust in your dentist certainly helps to make these visits feel a lot easier. Naturally, it takes time to build up this trust but we feel confident that, from your first visit with a member of our friendly team at The Dental Centre Bedford, you will start to build that rapport and trust. This is very important as it helps patients accept that whatever treatment is recommended is in their best interests, even if it is not something that they look forward to.

This trust also helps the dentist to listen to the patient’s concerns and address these in the most appropriate way, again helping to ensure that treatment takes place as smoothly and stress free as possible.

Honesty

Honesty is an important factor in any area of healthcare. If you come for a dental check up and are asked if you have had any problems with your teeth and gums and say ‘no’ when actually you may have had a few mild twinges, then this may reduce the dentist’s ability to help you if any issue is not noticeable. We do understand that some patients might say this to avoid treatment but if there is an issue, this will almost certainly worsen without treatment. We ask that you be honest with us so that we can investigate any issues at an early stage. It may even set your mind at rest if we check and find no problem at all.

Similarly, our dentists will always be honest with you. We will always give you an honest prognosis if a tooth is decayed or damaged for example. In this situation we may recommend that a tooth be extracted due to advanced damage, rather than suggest that something like a crown would be beneficial when it would be of little long term benefit.

We also ask that patients are truthful with us when we ask about any medication that you are taking. This is very important as medications such as blood thinners could lead to significant bleeding during an extraction if you don’t let us know in advance. Please try not to leave any medicines out even if you think they are minor. Providing full information means that we can provide a safe dental service for you at our Bedford dental clinic. We can assure patients that all information such as this is kept private and confidential.

Treatment knowledge

Although it is not strictly necessary for a patient to understand what will happen during their treatment, it can be useful in some cases. With a little knowledge, patients can understand better what the various sensations that they might feel during a procedure might be. Some sounds and sensations can be a little concerning if not understood so hearing from a trusted dentist what will happen can help to put them at ease.

Dentist vs the Internet

Although there are some people who believe in conspiracy theories, hopefully everyone would accept that a fully trained dentist is to be believed rather than ‘Fred Blogs’ who has a ‘paid by advertising’ video channel. You can suffer a lot of damage to your teeth if you trust the internet over a trained dentist. If you have any concerns or questions about a dental problem, please ask your dentist and not some anonymous person on the world wide web.

Regular visits

It is widely accepted that everyone should see their dentist and a hygienist at least every six months. This is much more likely to happen if the patient feels comfortable and trusts their dentist. This will decrease the chances of future problems arising.

Where a course of treatment has already started, it is also more likely that patients will complete the course rather than withdrawing part way through, feeling that enough has been done. This would be a mistake and could likely have a detrimental effect on their oral health even if it may not feel that way at the time.

If you are a nervous dental patient and would like to find a dentist that you trust, why not start here at The Dental Centre Bedford? We are sure that you won’t be disappointed. To arrange an appointment to see a dentist, or our hygienist, please call us today on 01234 819868.