Development of patient simulation systems: Investigation of discomfort part III

Objective: To realize holistic dentistry considering various stresses on patients during treatment, we asked dentists and patients about their relevant experiences, and investigated their recognition of such burdens. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey in 35 dentists at the Department of Orthodontic Dentistry, Nippon Dental University Hospital and 1,446 outpatients of our hospital who had agreed to participate in this study, and compared the responses between the two groups. They were asked to score the degrees of “stress”, “fear”, “discomfort”, and “distress” they had experienced as patients on a 6-grade (0-5) scale for 30 items representing burdens during dental treatment. Results: Among a total of 12 items, including the 3 highest-degree items for each of tension, anxiety, discomfort, and pain, the results differed between dentists and patients in 8 items. Comparison among all 30 items showed significant differences in 9 items for tension, 13 items for anxiety, 17 items for discomfort, and 14 items for pain, suggesting that dentists and patients recognized burdens during treatment in different ways. Furthermore, these differences tended to become more marked as dentists gained more experience of practice. Particularly, half of the dentists with 6 or more years of experience showed a difference from patients in recognizing discomfort. Conclusion: The differences between dentists and patients in recognizing burdens during treatment suggest that it is essential in order to realize holistic dentistry for dentists to carefully identify patients' recognition of such burdens. [This study was subsidized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as a “health professional education support program that meets community health and social needs”.]