Pain is among the most widespread fears but less so among young people. Now what matters most is establishing a meaningful human relationship, without forgetting technology and services
A doctor-patient relationship based on trust, first of all. And then a transparent quote and the guarantee that the treatments will be effective. These are the strongest wishes when it comes to dental care. This was stated by the over thousand people interviewed in the Italian research at the dentist commissioned by Idi Evolution and created by Nielsen. The survey also aimed to probe other aspects of the relationship with the dentist, among those who have frequented them in the last twelve months (May 2021 -May 2022). What fears shake us every time we walk through the door of his studio? How often do we go there? Do we inform ourselves, and how, about our oral health? What is our relationship with technological innovation?
The referring dentist
So trust and transparency are the most emerging needs. Trust (56% of the interviewees say so) remains indispensable in the relationship with the dentist. 95% of those who have visited in the last 12 months say they have a referring dentist and to confirm it because they trust (66%) and are also fully satisfied (48%). In fact, trust represents the most decisive parameter both in choosing to go to the dentist and in staying in that studio because there is a reference that then guides all the patient’s choices,” he comments Claudia Dellaviaprofessor of Anatomy and president of the degree course in dental hygiene at the University of Milan — . The figure of the dentist comes out well: someone the patient really decides to trust.
The data are in line with those of a research just presented by the National Association of Italian Dentists (Andi). When you go to the dentist, you do it because you don’t want to have any more discomfort or pain, you want to have one more word about the problem you have. These are all things that are well known to us and that are a very precious element in our work, he reiterates Charles Ghirlandapresident of Andi.
The negative effects of the pandemic
We must not forget that the more than two years of the pandemic have had a negative impact on the habits of Italians in terms of prevention and treatment. A
Even the health of the mouth and teeth has been heavily affected, because access to dental surgeries has drastically decreased and consequently they have also cooled the doctor-patient relationship. However, in the post-pandemic situation is improving and, as demonstrated by the data of the Eumetra research commissioned by the Andi Study Center, the dentist is the professional figure who enjoys greater trust (70%) after the specialist doctor (79)%) and almost on a par with the general practitioner (69%). A figure that bodes well for professionals, especially when you consider that during the early stages of the pandemic, about a third of Italians went to their dentist only for emergencies against just over a quarter of accesses for routine checks.
Empathic relationship
This photograph highlights the importance of the issue of trust between dentist and patient. A positive and pleasant experience is the most important and main factor in choosing a specialisteven more than concrete and practical factors related to costs or the convenience of reaching the office. Q
This shows that there can be no prevention without relationship
points out Maria Grazia Cagettiassociate professor at the University of Milan, director of the School of Specialization in Pediatric Dentistry.
Yes, but if for some dentists establishing an empathetic relationship with their patient is simple because perhaps they exploit a personal predisposition, for others it can prove to be a feat.
Empathy underlies the work of the dentist. The creation of a relationship of knowledge and trust with the patient, whether it is an adult or a child, is a necessary prerequisite for continuous prevention and regular checks. Starting checkups early and planning them regularly means avoiding more invasive and complex interventions. The dentist’s task is also to communicate with the patient and inform him about all these aspects, he says Mark Columbusscientific director Andi.
Training
Here comes into play, then, university education as well. Is it enough? Over the past 20 years, our roster of teaching disciplines has covered a lot of this aspect of the relationship with the patient,” he replies Laura StrohmengerProfessor of Dentistry at the State University of Milan -. We have included psychologists and we offer our students a good preparation. Particularly good in the area of the elderly and children, because they are the most difficult age groups. Of course, this theoretical preparation must then be combined with all the difficulties that the graduated dentist encounters when he goes looking for work and finds one where he may be forced to follow other priorities.
Less loyal young people
However, Nielsen research highlights an important change on the part of the patient, who is no longer willing to grant blind and ill-informed trust to his doctor. Today, conscious trust is based on transparency, available technologies and proven quality standards. Witness it the tendency, especially among the youngest (from 18 to 40 years) to be less loyal: about 46% have changed professionals at least once in the last 5 years.
While, as age increases, loyalty and the bond with the professional increase in parallel (76% of the 58-76 age range has never changed their professional of reference). The search for information is also a key factor at a second level: 61% of the interviewees declared that they consult the internet to search for information based on their symptoms, remedies to relieve discomfort, but also to evaluate possible treatments or understand your problem more deeply even after the clinician’s diagnosis, trying to understand if the treatments are adequate or simply for the purpose of arriving at the visit more prepared.
Orientation and awareness
However, when it comes to choosing a dentist, only 10% of the survey sample does so by informing themselves independently, through online reviews, information on various studies and clinics and by consulting social networks. 38% continue to rely on the care of the family dentist and 29% declare that they have orientated themselves thanks to word of mouth among friends/relatives. However, being informed does not necessarily mean being aware of the care you receive. Indeed only 18% of the sample interviewed declares to be very informed, while 64% quite and of the latter, 44% declare that some more information on the passages received would give them greater serenity. Even among those who consider themselves highly informed, 44% want to receive more information.
I think that today the patient is much more aware than in the past. Many of us, especially the more tech-savvy ones, show videos explaining theory and practice before making an intervention, says Laura Strohmenger. We talk for a long time with the patients and we evaluate the options to obtain the best result with respect to their needs and the operational technical possibilities that exist. Before each decision we choose the path together, trying to put the patient in the most favorable conditions of understandingechoes Ghirlanda.
The biggest fear
Try to guess: what is the worst nightmare evoked by your mind thinking about the experience at the dentist? Well yes, pain during treatments. As many as 36% of those interviewed in the Idi Evolution/Nielsen survey fear it. A fear that affects Generation X to a greater extent (those born between 1965 and 80; 41%) , while the least wimpy belong to Generation Z (1997-2012; 29%). Nothing new, one would think. Fear of the dentist, or stomatophobia, in the most serious forms it can trigger real panic attacks accompanied by nausea and tremors. That of fear remains a sort of historical legacy. The idea that in any case when you go to the dentist you have to or risk feeling sick is still handed down from generation to generation, in the family context. Which then doesn’t really correspond to what happens in the studios, reflects Claudia Dellavia.
Outdated vision
Dentists have everything to lose with a frightened or panicked patient. Of course, Of all specialists, the dentist is the one most often associated with pain, but this is an outdated view. Today dentistry can make use of advanced, innovative and above all painless techniques, remarks Marco Colombo, scientific director of Andi. The fear of the dentist is a fear similar to that generated in other fields of medicine, in my opinion linked to the fact that in the last 10-15 years in all of medicine things have improved a lot but they have also become more complicated – reasons Laura Strohmenger -. THEThe patient finds himself entering a tunnel of technologies, of terms that are also difficult to understand and difficult to explain so there is a sort of initial fear with respect to perhaps very extensive and exhausting interventions.
Explanation
Where does all this terror come from? There are explanations related precisely to the fact that inside our brain the brain areas responsible for processing the information that comes from the areas of the mouth specifically are very large – explains Dellavia -. So we have a representation within the brain of what are the areas of the mouth, very high, much greater than that of the other areas. Everything is a little amplified substantiallybut it is not necessarily pain information.
January 6, 2023 (change January 6, 2023 | 3:16 pm)
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