Confidence & Competence in Foundation Training

Confidence
Confidence in Foundation Training
The Dentist-Patient Relationship Knowledge Projecting Self-Confidence

The Dentist-Patient Relationship

Ruth Freeman, 1999, BDJ

The Dentist-Patient Relationship

Dr. Freeman work highlights,
Adult-to-Adult Relationships & Parent-Child Relationships need to be approached differently Parent-Child (Paternalistic) Relationships tend to be seen in older patients, who will accept what is told by the dentist Adult-to-Adult Relationships tend to be seen in younger patients, who are willing to question and research into what the dentist says.

Knowledge
This part is most important for those of the Adult-to-Adult Relationship
People nowadays are more educated and more health conscious With the advent of the internet and social media, it has become easier to research into once unknown conditions for self-diagnosis With these patients, knowing, correctly diagnosing and refuting pseudo-evidence is essential to maintaining confidence

Projecting Self-Confidence
This part is important both generally and also specifically for patients in the Adult-Child Relationship Techniques include;
Affirmative Body Language (E.g. Straight Back, maintaining Eye-Contact) Avoiding words that portray doubt (E.g. Erm, I think, etc) Countering doubt or questioning with appropriate answers (E.g. Refuting Anti-Flouride Patients, with appropriate knowledge of their common evidence basze)

Competence
Evidence based dentistry Practise

Evidence based dentistry

The field of dentistry is ever-changing and best practises are constantly being updated Many practitioners work totally within the primary care setting and can very quickly lose touch with what is the best practise of a dental procedure With so many journals, author and opinions available, it can become difficult to decide what is in the best interest of the patient

Evidence based dentistry

Evidence based dentistry (EBD) aims to solve this problem The technique involves (Hackshaw A. et al 2007);
Defining the problem Searching for information Interpreting the results Acting on the new information

Practise
Once a practioner has decided to adopt a new best practise, he/she is faced with new problems, including;
Does the surgery they work in have any new equipment or materials that they need? Does the practioner need to go onto courses to further train? Is the new best practise economically viable for the practioner or the practise manager?

Summary

References
R. Freeman, The psychology of dental patient care: A psychodynamic understanding of the dentistpatient interaction, BDJ, 1999 (186), pp. 503-506 A. Hacksaw, E. Paul, E. Davenport, EvidenceBased Dentistry An Introduction, Blackwell, Singapore, 2007, pp.15-20