title: [Patient education in a dental practice].
abstract: Patient education is an important part of the care provided in a dental practice. Explanations concerning dental treatments is in the majority of practices exclusively the responsibility of the dentist. Information about oral hygiene and prevention is generally provided by oral hygienists and prevention assistants. It is striking that agreements are made concerning the form and content of patient education, the division of responsibilities and the use of teaching aids in only 39% of practices. It is possible that this has to do with the relatively few hours that oral hygienists and/or prevention assistants are active each week in the practice, and the judgement of the dentists that sufficient time has to be devoted to discussing a proposed treatment with the patient.
authors.affiliation: Afdeling Kwaliteit & Onderzoek van de Nederlandse Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Tandheelkunde (NMT). j.bruers@nmt.nl
authors.forename: J J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Bruers
authors.forename: B A F M
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van Dam
authors.forename: J C L
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: den Boer
mesh_terms: D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D006801:Humans; D009426:Netherlands; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists'; D011313:Preventive Dentistry