Patient Motivation in Periodontics

Patient Education and Motivation in Periodontics

“…Therefore, incongruous as it may seem, the desirable end result of the dentist's efforts to educate should be the creation of a state of anxiety in the patient strong enough to compel him to act to relieve the anxiety. 1 Silverman has described two main categories of needs: biologic and social. Biological needs, e.g., oxygen consumption, must be responded to completely or death occurs.…”

“…However, it should be obvious that daily plaque removal alone can significantly reduce the active disease process in the absence of surgery, but surgery can never eliminate the disease process in the absence of plaque control. 1 A second important concept is that patients almost never really want to lose their teeth. They do, however, desire to be rid of the problems associated with teeth.…”

“…Ideally, this should be the first exposure of the dental student to dentistry in his first week of dental school. 1 Fourth, most dentists unconsciously make their patients completely dependent upon them for all dental treatment. This includes plaque control through oral hygiene measures for which the patient should be completely responsible for on a daily basis.…”

“…Only in this way can the patient be helped on a long-term basis. 1 Fifth, never forget that the typical periodontal patient is an adult with a mind crammed with all kinds of dental health information. Some of it is subconscious but nevertheless able to be recalled in times of stress.…”

“…The reason for this is that unlike patients in other areas of dentistry, the periodontal patient must be an active, knowledgeable cotherapist in treating his own disease. 1 There is growing evidence that the patient's individual behavior is critical for success of periodontal therapy. 2 With the increase in understanding about the role patient motivation and compliance has on the periodontal treatment outcome, various methods have been tried to improve it.…”