TOPIC: PATIENT MANAGEMENT IN DENTAL RADIOLOGY
🌟 IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER
🔺Dental radiographers must understand the importance of dental radiographs and their use in the management of the patients.
🔺He or she can be a dental assistant, dental hygienist or dental auxiliary.
🔺Proper dental radiograph is helpful to the dentist for detecting the pathology and planning the treatment.
🔺 Radiographs can carry information about missing teeth, supernumerary teeth, impaction, caries, periodontitis, tumours, cysts, etc.
📣 Relation With Patient :
🔸Communication Skills
- Verbal communication
- Non-verbal communication
🔸Listening Skills
- Listening refers to receiving and understanding a message. Careful listening results in better communication with minimum misunderstanding.
🔸Facilitation Skills
- The term ‘facilitation’ means making it easier.
🔸Behaviour of Dental Radiographer
- Dental radiographer should be well-groomed
- Well behaved and professional attitude
🔸Chairside Manners
- Comforting
- Should encourage the patients for their cooperation
📣 Patient Education:
- Oral presentation
- Printed brochure
📣 Legal Issues In Dental Radiology:
🔸The information provided to the patient should include the following:
- The purpose and benefits of the radiograph.
- Number and types of radiographs.
- Possible harm that may result due to radiograph exposure.
🔸Informal consent: Consent can be invalid in the following circumstances:
- If consent is obtained from the person who has no legal right to approve it.
- If consent is taken under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- If consent is obtained after incomplete disclosure of information.
- If consent is obtained by misrepresentation or fraudulent means.
🔸The following precautions should be taken while lending the radiograph:
- Request from another dentist should be in writing, which should be placed in patient’s folder.
- Original radiograph should be duplicated which should be sent by registered mail.
- Original radiograph should not be sent unless a written assurance is provided by the dentist to return it within a week.
- A copy of the covering letter should be sent with the radiograph and the postal receipt should be kept in the patient’s folder as security.
