[Aggression in the dental office]

In this study on aggression in the dental practice, 8 dentists and 1 dental nurse who had experienced aggression in their dental practice, were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire. They had responded to a call in 2 Dutch dental journals or were contacted through personal communication. The interviews show that aggression in particular can be expected in patients having not paid their expense account, non compliant patients, or in patients who often come too late or even do not show up at their appointments. Aggression also can appear when patients with toothache are told they cannot be helped immediately. Aggression seems predominantly connected to people under influence of alcohol or drugs, psychiatric patients and people having contacts in criminal circuits. Although the incidence seems relatively low, the occurrence of aggression always has a great impact on the dental team. Therefore it seems useful to study how dentists and their auxiliaries could act to prevent aggression.