Dentist-patient communication: How do patients make sense of oral health information and translate it into action?

Abstract

Purpose: Patient-provider communication has been studied extensively in the last two decades, and many researchers have confirmed the importance of communication between patient and provider in medical contexts. In spite of increased research in patient-provider communication in dentistry, dental care providers still report that patients often do not accurately follow oral health recommendations. Thus, there is the need for additional study on how patients make sense of the oral health information they receive and how they translate that information into action. This study aimed to obtain insight into how dental care patients perceive and make sense of the information they receive from their dentist and how they translate that information into action.

Methods: 16 patients and 8 dentists from Indiana School of Dentistry’s (IUSD) Graduate Prosthodontic Clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana were included. Two in-depth interviews, one immediately following the dental visit and one 7-10 days later, were conducted with the patients, and one short interview was conducted with each patient’s dental care provider. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed.

Results: The results show both patients and providers perceived the interaction during consultation positively. The majority of patients were able to accurately recall information they received from their dentists and made sense of new information through the lens of their previous experiences. Four additional factors that explain patients’ adherence with health advice were also found in addition to the previous studies.

Conclusions: Successful dentist-patient interaction could be thought of as a match between what dentists think patients need to know, what patients think they want/need to know, and what patients actually know. Thus, some barriers that can keep dentists and patients from reaching information equilibrium are discussed. The study concludes by offering practical and theoretical implications.