The dentist and preventive dental health information.

Abstract

Patients receive differing amounts of preventive dental health information from their dentist. What factors affect the amount of preventive information a patient receives? Many possible reasons which have been advanced for this difference are discussed in this paper. Using the clues presented in the literature, and results of a presurvey, some factors thought to influence the amount of preventive dental health information the patient receives were investigated. Specifically, the research problem was, "What is the relationship between the amount of preventive dental health information a patient receives from the dentist in his private office and the following factors: patient's appearance, interest-responsiveness, nervousness, need for dental care, request for service, orientation to dentistry, and dentist's liking for the patient?" The hypothesized relationships of amount of preventive dental information delivered to dentist's perception of patient's characteristics were not upheld. The paper tentatively concludes that the characteristics of the dentist and his dental practice affect the preventive information delivered more significantly than patient characteristics.