[Perspective of a patient in the general practitioners office and in the dental office]

Both general practitioners and dentists acknowledge the importance of the patient's perspective and the demand for care, and, consequently, of good communication with their patients. In general practice, the concept of reason for encounter has proved to be very useful for gaining more insight in the nature and the importance of the patient's perspective. Data from the Amsterdam Transition project show that the general practitioner understands the patient's reasons for encounters very well, and that the nature of the patient's reasons for encounter clearly affect the subsequent interventions. In this article, 260 letters concerning people's experiences with their dentist are used in order to provide an impression of communication problems in dentist practice in the Netherlands. Three major problem areas are identified, with a total of ten subcategories. Several of these are well known to the general practitioner as well. In addition, some problems are characteristic for the dentist practice. It is suggested to incorporate the concept of reason for encounter in dental care as an essential part of the description and analysis of the communication between dentists and their patients.