Listen with your eyes
Thorough communication is a very crucial feature in a dental office as it determines the success of the collaboration between the dental assistant and the dentist, and also between the dentist and the patient. Switching ideologies between the concerned fields in the dental office can certainly take many faces in diverse situations. During a recent case study, it was accounted that American orthodontists, who happen to be the most efficient predictors of patient compliance, apply the most biased methods to aid in prediction of patients’ fulfillment (Johan Hoogstraten 2005). Specifically addressed to the dentists, non-verbal messages were the most utilized means of communication in a typical dental office. Since the state at large is built by a variety of cultures, becoming compliant with many of the cultures requires the skill of non-verbal communication. Silent language being the most important tool in the field of dentistry, realizing its influence during practical work can be of great help to the dentist.
It has already been established that Non-verbal communication is solely connected to the individual’s environment. Just like tribal cultures, people tend to become more compliant with people who are familiar with the same body and verbal communication. A similar case applies to the dentist’s communication pattern with either the assistant or a patient. Understanding the culture variance helps in creating a comfortable environment for the patient in particular. Ethnic non-verbal signals cannot be completely recognized by all persons in general but executing a number of the common skills in the dental office can be very useful (Girtel 2010).
Beginning with the voice tone, it eventually leads to the patient leading the dentist’s directions during an operation or interrogation. The dentist ought not to approach the patient with any form of touch or non-verbal prompt without the intention of sending a particular message (Halstead and Phinny 2003). For example, during teeth filling, touching the patent by the shoulder unintentionally, can imply intense pain which is about to be felt by the patient. Offensive behavior by the dentist can also be avoided by sparingly keeping away from hand signals. Another non-verbal asset in the communication between the dentist and the patient is eye contact. Pursuing the path of the eye contact with the patient is a leading means in the non-verbal language. A lot of dentists may tend to misunderstand the amount of aching the patient is experiencing if cautiousness is not observed in interpreting facial gestures.
As many cultures possess diverse meanings of different gestures, dentists coming to terms with the diverse meanings can cause a great deal of misunderstanding in the dental office. For instance, signaling ones hand for a person to “come towards you” within majority of the states is very much common. On the contrary, in Latin countries and Asian nations, the same gesture is used to signal dogs only and not humans as it is considered insulting. Another symbol is the symbol for “O.K” is very common and acceptable within the English and Latin nations, whereas in Japan it is considered a currency symbol due to its circular shape (Girtel 2010). Another feature of the touch gesture is the silent communication which creates majority of debate within the communication field in many countries. For once, the Japanese consider touching a kid on the temple releases their inner strength while typical Americans just stroke the forehead of their children to show their love.
Facial appearances significantly possess diverse effects on the variety of persons such as a smirk and eye contact. Just as eye contact and bodily gestures, facial expressions display diverse meanings within the multiple cultures that exist in the Country (American Dental Assistants association 2009). In another case, in Russia, posing a smirk to a peculiar person is considered a suspicious and unfamiliar to the intended individual. Emotional hurting in the Asian countries together with awkwardness is expressed through smiling. If you look at the situation in the American states, posing a smirk towards another individual towards a familiar or even unfamiliar person indicates happiness or interest.
Conclusion
Silent Language, facial expressions, bodily expressions and eye contact comprise the non-verbal communication across diverse cultures containing likeness and multiple variances. A high-quality approval for nonverbal signals can show the path to achieving communication in the dental place of work. Certainly, in almost all forms of working environments, mainly medicine, majority of the backgrounds require listening with the eyes.
Reference:
Hoogstraten, J, Bos, A & Prahl-Andersen, B. 2005. Towards a comprehensive model for the study of compliance in Orthodontics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Halsted, J. & Phinney, D. 2003. Delmar’s dental assisting: a comprehensive approach. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Girtel, G. 2010. Dental office administration. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
