Delivering bad news to dental patients.
Most dentists are accustomed to reporting to a patient that he or she has two new carious lesions, and patients accept such news relatively easily. A diagnosis of periodontal disease requiring multiple extractions and denture construction is less readily assimilated; accordingly, providers usually take more time and care in explaining this situation. A diagnosis of carcinoma, which a dentist seldom is required to deliver, cannot be imparted in the same manner in which one would reveal a diagnosis of caries or of periodontal disease. A compassionate, measured, sensitive, and private discussion between a dentist and a patient with a serious diagnosis serves as the first step of a journey that is likely to result in substantive changes in that patient's life.
Chiodo
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Center for Ethics in Health Care, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201, USA.
Tolle
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D004990:Ethics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014342:Truth Disclosure