Dental assistants and hygienists have a unique perspective. You are often the first person the patient sees and so it is up to you to help develop trust and a positive atmosphere for the practice. Not only will your optimistic outlook help patients form a good opinion of the dentist and the treatment they will receive, but you are also in a position where you may be told something or overhear something negative about the dentist or the treatment received. So what do you do if a patient complains to you about the last time they had an appointment with the dentist?

You need to listen compassionately and sympathetically to patient's complaints. Each patient expects personal attention not only from the dentist, but from you as well. Never say anything negative about the dentist even if you think it may appease the patient. This could be something that, however well intended, could come back and cause more trouble for you.

Inform the dentist in an objective manner so that he or she can make amends for whatever the problem might be. Dentists want to keep their patients happy. Besides being healthcare providers, caring about their patients, they are businessmen and women. They want their patients to respect them as a dentist as well as recommend them to friends and relatives.

And last, be objective in your observations when you document charts. This cannot be emphasized enough. More often than not, dental charts tend to be vague. You, as an assistant, can also document charts and files. By doing this you are being a good assistant to the dentist for whom you work. At anytime, the dentist will be able to refer back to the chart and see the problem, and how it was rectified. It will also eliminate risk to the dentist if an angry or upset patient decides to file a lawsuit. Remember, many people sue based on emotion. Again, any records will help bring to mind any problem that arose.

Let's say you overhear a patient tell their friend in disgust, "The last time I was here, that dentist really hurt me. If he does it again I'm never coming back." What do you do? Do you inform the dentist? Yes, but you should make it clear that it was overheard. The dentist can then use a different approach in how he or she deals with the problem. Again, the dentist wants to know about anything the patient is unhappy with, therefore, you are the one the dentist is relying on. Once you've listened, or heard, and then informed the dentist, you should document as discussed earlier. The main point of listening, informing and documenting is that you are to promote a caring relationship between patients and the dentist. When patients feel the dentist and staff sincerely care about their welfare, malpractice suits are rarely filed.

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