Cultural understanding

Each and every patient you see will be different; they have different mouths with different areas of concerns, and different motivations regarding their oral health. The more you understand the patient the better able you are to improve the patient experience. This is something most of us will do subconsciously on some level, from using a tone of voice when talking to children, to taking a few extra seconds to talk through procedures with a patient who is clearly nervous. We use our understanding of the patient to give the most effective care. Whilst this will immediately benefit the patient in terms of their oral health, it also has a positive impact on the practice’s reputation.

There are now over 2m Muslims living in the UK so it is worth taking a brief look at some of the practical considerations when treating Muslim patients.

Patient records

Many Muslims, particularly those from the Indian subcontinent, will use a traditional naming method. Boys may have a personal name (such as Siddiq or Altaf) which is either preceded or followed by a religious name (Muhammad Siddiq and his brother Altaf Hussain). This explains why brothers could have different surnames.