[Dentist and scientific dental information in mass media]

Mass media, such as newspapers and magazines and to a lesser degree TV and radio can provide the public with a lot of scientific information about dental diseases. Especially when it concerns research results with news value or controversial issues. Dentists regarded by the public as the most reliable sources of scientific information about dentistry, can get into problems by the publication of such issues in mass media. Particularly when patients ask questions about developments in certain fields of dentistry (for example periodontology or implantology) covered by the mass media. In this article the importance and the value of communication of scientific information are discussed. The relevance for dentistry is illustrated by means of a series of articles on scientific dental subjects published, during fifteen years, in a Dutch national newspaper. Finally the responsibility of dental faculties and professional organisations when they provide research results to the press and other mass media is pointed out.