Ethics & Law · patient case question
Which response is most likely to build this patient's trust?
Patient case: Anxious adult with a traumatic dental history
Patient: Male, 44 years old
Chief Complaint: Needs restorative treatment but is visibly frightened.
Background: He describes a previous dentist who treated him without adequate anaesthesia and, when he complained of pain, told him to stop crying like a baby. He has avoided dental care for eleven years.
Current Findings: Tense, tearful, hyperventilating slightly on sitting in the chair. Multiple untreated carious lesions.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. “That must have been a very frightening experience. I will make sure you are completely numb before I start anything.”
- A. CORRECT. This does two things at once. It VALIDATES the experience, which tells the patient he has been heard rather than judged, and it makes a specific, verifiable commitment addressing the exact source of the fear — pain without anaesthesia. Empathy plus a concrete promise of control is the foundation of trust with a dentally anxious patient.
- B. Jumping to sedation bypasses the relationship entirely. It may have a place later, but offered first it signals that his fear is a problem to be chemically removed rather than understood.
- C. Criticising a colleague is unprofessional, and it does nothing to reassure the patient about what will happen NOW. It may even heighten anxiety by implying dentists are unpredictable.
- D. This minimises the experience. Being told that the thing that frightened you is old news is dismissive, however factually true it may be.
Note: Then back the words with actions: agree a stop signal he controls, tell-show-do, topical before every injection, slow deposition of warmed anaesthetic, short first appointments that end on a success.