Reasons Dentists Should Keep You Informed of Their Activities During Your Appointment

Trust is at the heart of all healthy relationships, including dental-patient relationships. By exuding feelings of confidence and ease, our dentist in SW Calgary can allay your fears and render the dental encounter painless and pleasant.

A heightened sense of trust creates an environment where the patient gets more satisfaction with the dental services. The main basis of trust is based on the assumption that your personal information will be confidential, you have autonomy, and that the procedures are in your best interests.

When our dentist communicates clearly with care and compassion, this confidence will help reduce patients’ fear and anxiety of dental procedures.

The Dentist-Patient Relationship Is Built On Trust

Trust is an interesting thing. The most closely related to the discussion of trust include communication, ethics, and shared decision-making. Ethics and effective communication are at the backbone of dental practices.

If you lack a sense of trust in a dentist’s ethics, there could be severe implications. For instance, if your confidence in your dentist’s integrity is high, you are more likely to take a back seat in deciding the treatment plan.

On the other hand, if your confidence levels are low, you are more likely to take an active role in the decision-making process. What’s more, your level of confidence will determine whether you will seek dental care or not.

Patients Have a Right to Know What’s Going On During Their Appointment

You most probably know that you have human rights and the rights as a citizen of this country. But did you know that you have a right to know exactly how each step will be carried out during your appointment?

Most patients don’t realize their specific rights when they are receiving dental care because their rights are not clearly defined or included in the tons of papers they need to sign during registration.

Open and honest communication is vital since dentists should deal honestly with their patients. This is critical because there are certain cases where a complication occurs due to a dentist’s judgment or mistake. In this scenario, the dentist is ethically obligated to inform the patient of all the situation facts.

Therefore, to ensure you receive the care you need, you will need basic knowledge of your rights. Some of the rights you need to know are:

• You have control over your body
• You can decide who will be in the room during the exam
• The help of an interpreter if there is a language barrier
• Meals and medication that fit your values
• You need informed consent
• Confidentiality
• The right to refuse care

Transparency Helps Build Trust

Trust is never built on obscurity or ambiguity. Patients desire to entrust a dentist with their oral health. What’s more, oral health is vital to everyone’s well-being. Therefore, there is no other way our dentist can operate besides transparency. Having complete transparency in a dental practice (billing and treatment) is vital.

But what is transparency when it comes to dental care? It is making the information on the dental care systems’ efficiency and quality available to the public understandably and reliably, including quality data and price.

When we talk about transparency, this is what we mean:

• There is information on the services offered and what the treatments entail
• The information is valid and up-to-date
• Any limitations in the medication or treatment should be clearly stated, including and not limited to side effects
• Educating the patient on the dental issue and providing a proper solution for it
• Making the process available to the public
• Provide itemized billing if you request one
• Pricing should be made available in an easily understandable manner
• Provide information on insurance covered and the payment to be made

Transparency at all levels will instil a sense of trust in the patient. You can decide on your healthcare plan when you can access the information on the pricing and the treatments available. You can also plan much better if you know how much the treatment will cost.

Keeping Patients Informed Helps Them Feel More Comfortable

About a quarter of those who avoid dental care says they feel uncomfortable. Dental practices may be uncomfortable for people, especially when they have come to get an issue sorted out.

But keeping the patient informed will have the following effect:

• Improve the health outcome
• Boost overall satisfaction
• Increases patient traffic
• Takes pressure off staff
• Gives patients more confidence

There’s no need to be uncomfortable or scared of dental treatment. We have sedation dentistry in Calgary, AB, that can help calm your nerves. If you need a dentist near you accepting new patients, contact us at Poplar Dental to schedule an appointment.