Fear of dentists exceeded ‘only by fear of death’

Press, 28 August 1980, Page 10

Fear of dentists exceeded ‘only by fear of death’

PA Dunedin Fear of dental treatment is probably exceeded only by fear of death, Dr Jay Friedman, dental director of a United States health care organisation has told the Dental Association conference in Dunedin. Patients feared dentists because they associated them with pain and high expense, , two of many obstacles in the way of good dental treatment, Dr Friedman said. “What dentists do to people has changed very little in the last 30 years.” Small improvements had allowed dentists to provide more and better care, but “if there is more good care there is also more bad care,” Dr Friedman said. Bad diagnosis and treatment,and poor and

greedy practitioners “are as common today as when I began practice in 1948.” Many obstacles frustrated .the introduction of rational dental diagnoses and treatment. While people had a right and freedom to neglect their health, dentists needed to try to understand why some people chose to do that and try to change those patients’ behaviour. Dental ignorance was a big problem, and in-spite of talk of' prevention people : were generally motivated to visit the dentist by pain or discomfort, Dr Friedman said. Fear of pain, and the dental bill that- followed the visit heightened that. While dental care for New Zealand schoolchildren was assured, adults’

inaccessibility to care obstructed treatment. He suggested dental care should be taken to the -workplace, nursing homes and retirement centres. He also isolated some obstacles created by dentists, “Many of us have difficulty distinguishing . between our needs and the needs of our patients.” Diagnosis and treatment tended to be imposed by the dentist on the patient, rather than performed in consultation with the patient. “If health care is viewed as a life-long .process, treatment ' needs can be planned over years according to the urgency or priority of presenting conditions?’ Dr Friedman said. Treatment should be de-

signed individually to prevent conditions getting worse, restore the patient to adequate health and social function and provide maintenance care. Some of- the problems in the way of more rational dental treatment could be solved through group dental practices, Dr Friedman said. This alternative allowed new dentists to consult experienced dentists, for dentists to share patient care and to .review the process and outcome of care over a long period. Group practice could also set and maintain standards to guide all its practitioners, he said. Such service should be backed up with full and continuing records so that patient-care could be planned individually.