As dentists, we are charged with helping our patients improve and maintain their oral health. Our role is to recommend and deliver any treatment that’s in our patients’ best interests. Of course, it’s not always that simple. Unfortunately, many patients don’t fully appreciate the role they must play in enhancing their dental health or appreciate the need for any proposed treatment. This lack of education can put their oral and systemic health at risk and it’s one of our many jobs as dentists to help more people understand the far-reaching implications of improved dental hygiene.
Breaking down patient barriers
Before we can attempt to break down the barriers to improved patient education, we first have to understand what they are.
The first problem is that the health literacy of the population needs to be improved. This refers to people’s skills, knowledge, understanding and confidence in utilising health and social care information or services. More than 40 per cent of adults aged 16-65 in England have been found not to fully understand or use everyday health advice. When numeracy skills are required to comprehend the health information, over 60 per cent do not understand or implement it. Just as worryingly, many providers of healthcare information have admitted that they don’t have the tools or skills to produce appropriate resources for people with lower literacy levels. As dental professionals, it’s our job to help bridge the gap between the information out there and our patients’ understanding in order to develop their knowledge and confidence in related health matters.
Another prominent patient barrier is dental fear or anxiety, which is estimated to affect around 50 per cent of adults in the UK. Not only will this prevent some patients from attending the dental practice in the first place, it can also reduce their ability to absorb information and make sound treatment decisions. It’s important for dentists to be aware if their patients experience additional stress relating to their dental care so that all options can be discussed. In more extreme cases, sedation may be useful, as can cognitive behavioural therapies.
Another perspective
Our own actions as dentists and the environment we work in can also influence the quality of patient education we provide.
As we know, our relationship with patients as healthcare professionals has a massive impact on how well they listen to and accept our recommendations. By employing a positive attitude, encouraging and supporting our patients, and avoiding negative reactions, we can help more patients to better engage with their oral health. We should also be getting to know our patients on a personal level, giving us insight into their lives so that we may tailor oral hygiene advice to be convenient and feasible for them, optimising their compliance.
Then there are the physical constraints of delivering dental care today. For example, patient communication and interaction can be negatively affected by limited appointment time, a lack of training in patient education for the dentist and a failure to use appropriate language. The first will impact colleagues working within the NHS framework most, though the rest will be relevant to all dentists. The solutions to these challenges can be more difficult to determine, but we must do what we can.
This means using language our patients will understand and explaining dental disease or treatment in a way they can relate to. Research has shown that visual communication aids, including videos, can be extremely helpful in these situations. We could also optimise consultation time by automating processes or using cutting-edge technologies to speed up note taking may be useful. In addition, there are various some training resources in the field that we can use to refine our communication skills.
The end goal
As with everything that we do, the ultimate goal of improving dental patient education is to elevate standards of oral and systemic health across the nation. This would not only afford a better quality of life for individuals, but it would also reduce the burden on the NHS, lower general healthcare service costs and boost the economy with fewer days of work lost due to illness.
Sadly, there is no simple answer and no one-solution-fits-all. However, by continuing to educate our patients whenever we can, we will help drive positive progress.