CDA
at
W
ork
TrustandValueWorkingGroup
is aunique collaboration of provincial andnational dental leaders that focuses on
developing communications strategies to promote the benefits of good oral health for allCanadians.
andevenorthodonticcare). Theydependonus touseour knowledgeof
pharmacologyandmedicine to safelyprescribeandadminister drugs that
arepotentially fatal.Weperformbiopsies andoccasionallyhave to inform
patients that theyhavea life-threatening illness.
Howmany timeshaveyougone in todoa recall examandas your staff
memberwasgivingyouhisor her updateof themedical history the
patient said “Doctor, Iwaswaiting for you tocome in to tell youabout this
newdrug I amon, the surgeryor heart attack I just had, that I have just
beendiagnosedwithcancer” or something similarly significant?
That’sbecause thepeoplewe lookafter certainly thinkof themselves as
patients andus as their oral physicians anddental doctors. I haveaskedmany
ofmypatients about this, andeachone I haveaskedhas toldme that theywant
tobe thought of as apatient, not aclient, becausebeingapatient ispersonal and it’s
medical.
Languagecanbea subtleandpowerful tool. Don’t use the termclient inyour office. It doesnot
adequately reflect theuniqueand special relationshipwehavewith thepeoplewho relyonus for
their oral healthcareand it denigrates the roleof thedentist as thepatient’soral physicianand
dental doctor.
a
—ReprintedwithpermissionoftheOntarioDentalAssociationandOntarioDentist,2011.
