COMPARISON OF IDEAL AND ACTUAL BEHAVIOR OF PATIENTS AND DENTISTS DURING DENTAL TREATMENT

The ideal behavior of dentists and patients has seldom been studied wi th the aim of determining whether it is similar to the actual behavior of the two groups. Thus, the purpose of this study was to compare whe ther the ideal behavior of dentists and patients differed from their a ctual behavior. Thirty-three volunteering dentists and 271 of their pa tients from the public and private sectors in different parts of Finla nd participated in the study, The dentists first filled out a question naire with 5-scale Likert-type statements about the ideal patient and questions concerning their own background variables. In connection wit h normal dental practice their dental nurses selected 10 patients, who before treatment filled out a questionnaire containing statements abo ut the desired behavior of an ideal dentist and their own background v ariables, Immediately after the treatment, both dentists and patients filled out another questionnaire containing similar statements, which this time indicated whether the dentist/patient actually behaved accor ding to the ideal. Differences between each individual and the indepen dent ideal and actual scores were compared by cross-tabulation and per centage agreement. With regard to the ideal behavior that was directly related to the treatment procedure, the expectations of both dentists and patients were usually met. In general, the patients did not disru pt the procedures and the dentists were able to concentrate on the tre atment. The discrepancies most often found between the ideal and the a ctual behavior concerned the level of communication. The patients ofte n would like to have been talked to more and wanted to be encouraged. The dentists were not sure whether their patients were interested in o r motivated about the treatment or whether they followed the home care instructions. In general, there evidently is a clear gap in communica tion between dentists and patients, which may lead to frustration on b oth sides. It is thus suggested that when dentists are trained, more e mphasis be placed on communication skills.