DentaltownUK September 2017 - 84

Day In The Life Of

Mastering Communication Skills for
the Incoming Dental Professional
by Kishan Sheth, BDS5 dental student at King's College Dental
School and DentaltownUK honorary student editor
Communication skills play a vital role in
breaking down any existing barriers between
patients and their dental professionals. This
article is written as a light guide to some
tips and tricks that have worked for me, as
a final year dental student studying at King's
College London.
It is imperative that dental health
professionals know about their patients'
psychosocial background, in addition to what
their patients understand regarding their oral
and dental needs. The building of rapport
and trust in the dental setting is extremely
important, as most patients who come into
the clinic are nervous, and a minority may
be described as being anxious.
The thought of their oral health being
in someone else's hands, the sound of the
ultrasonic scaler or drill and the thought of
local anaesthetic needle penetration can put
many patients off coming to see us.
The benefit of being a student is that you
have that incredible opportunity to sit down
with a patient and build up trust, as you don't
have the time constraint or financial pressure
that you're likely to have in general practice.
This time period of being a student is

very important to develop the softer skills
such as building rapport and communication
development. In practice, only if you've built
up trust will your patients accept and comply
with preventive dental advice and restorative
treatment plans.
There are many professionals talking
about the need for a more 'holistic health
approach' to dental care. Holistic healthcare
is not only to do with taking into account
the general health of the patient, but also
to do with acknowledging and considering
important episodes in patients' lives, and by
demonstrating empathy and understanding
in regards to the problems or difficulties
they encounter.
Ever y time I have a new patient
assessment, I ensure that each appointment is
full of empathy. I must encourage my patients
to ventilate their fears, thoughts and worries
in relation to treatment and its outcome.
I also ensure that when formulating
treatment plans, I use simple language,
diagrammatic representations where
appropriate (for example when discussing
the nature of periodontitis or caries, or
when discussing the process of endodontic

procedures or surgical extractions).
I communicate slowly and clearly, and
give my patients time to ask questions, and
opportunities to repeat information back to
me so that I can accurately assess how well
they understand what is being communicated
to them. I am well aware of the busy nature
of general dental practice, and getting the
balance between efficiency and empathy can
sometimes be tricky.
It is my belief that the dentist, hygienist,
and dental nurse within their busy work
schedule have little if any time for prolonged
patient interviews. Perhaps the existence of
a treatment coordinator will be beneficial
in communication measures with patients
regarding their dental health.
Communication is always a dynamic
two-way process in which verbal words
and non-verbal cues are instrumental for
both parties to know when to be either
active or passive. During the interview and
consultation, I have to take both an active
and passive role.
The active role is implemented when I am
asking a patient about what they understand
about their disease or treatment needs, and
the passive role when I need to allow the
patient some space to ventilate their thoughts
and feelings. When I purposely appear to be
passive, I am closely assessing the patients'
behaviour (non-verbal cues) and listening, as
well as continuously encouraging the patient
to engage with me.

Non-verbal communications
Argyle (1) has stated that 65 per cent
of all communication is non-verbal. It can
be therefore inferred that 'actions do speak
louder than words'.
I always ensure that I am paying close
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DentaltownUK September 2017
