Application of behavioural science research to the dental office setting

The one-to-one intervention between patient and dentist continues to offer significant opportunities for practitioners to impact positively on their patients' oral health behaviour. A growing body of behavioural science research offers suggestions for maximizing these opportunities. The practitioner and his staff, developing programs for the improvement of oral health behaviour, should assess the patients' individual dental educational needs, make the educational diagnosis, increase the patient's motivation to achieve the prescribed preventive behaviour and monitor and reinforce the patient's progress toward achieving optimum goals. A concerted effort must be made to reduce the barriers which prevent the patient from obtaining these goals. One of the foremost barriers is dental-related anxiety and fear. Successful anxiety-reducing procedures include: relaxation, modelling, desitization, pre-surgical waiting periods, hypnosis and patients' control methods. The choice of the appropriate combination of preventive procedures in the dental office varies according to each patient's needs and the selected methods should be governed by the practitioner's understanding of their relative effectiveness when applied to each individual situation. This paper provides commentary on a prevention-oriented dental practice, in light of current behavioural science research findings as well as the successful application of these findings by practitioners.