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ECPD: PRACTICE PLAN
Effective Communication with Patients: Building Trust and Ensuring Valid Consent Practice Plan is delighted to bring you this article, with the aim of supporting the ongoing Enhanced CPD needs of dental healthcare professionals and their teams Objectives By the end of this article, you should be able to: • Explain why effective communication is essential in dental practice. • Apply practical strategies to improve patient communication and reduce anxiety. • Understand and implement the requirements for valid consent in line with UK law and GDC standards. • Demonstrate how GDC Principle 2 underpins everyday patient interactions. Learning Outcome: A “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” As George Bernard Shaw hints, it’s very easy for miscommunication to occur. Perhaps this explains why the General Dental Council’s (GDC) Principle 2 is: “Communicate effectively with patients.” At first glance that sounds very simple. However, we have all been on the other end of miscommunication at some point in our lives. Communication can easily go awry if care is not taken over it. In a dental practice setting the consequences of poor communication can be dire for both the patient and the practice. For this reason, when speaking to patients, dental team members should ensure they communicate clearly at all times. This means listening carefully, explaining clearly and making sure patients understand their options before they agree to treatment. Good communication is one of the most powerful tools in dentistry. It serves a much greater purpose than simply explaining treatment. It also helps to build trust, reduce fear and enables patients to feel confident in their decisions. The consequences of a communication breakdown include patients left feeling anxious, misunderstood or even misled, all of which can lead to complaints or legal/regulatory issues.
Why communication matters
Clear communication matters for many reasons. Dental visits can be stressful. Patients often worry about pain, costs and outcomes. Effective communication helps to reduce anxiety by providing reassurance and clarity. It also serves to build rapport, which is essential for developing trust. Trust is the bedrock of a successful relationship between a patient and practice. Without it, patients are less likely to take advice or accept guidance on treatment plans. Before they are likely to trust someone’s professional judgement, they need to believe that person is trustworthy and that they will be safe in their hands. Without rapport built through clear communication, they are unlikely to feel that way. Once trust and mutual respect
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Show empathy
have been established, patients are more likely to take up suggested treatment plans or heed oral health advice, leading to better outcomes. Great communication can also insulate the practice from complaints to a certain extent. People are generally less inclined to sue someone they like. The nature of dentistry is such that there is a possibility that something will go wrong during a dentist’s career. Those practitioners who have taken the time to make sure that they and their practice team communicate clearly with their patients are far less likely to find themselves subject to litigation or a fitness to practise complaint than those who have not.
A trip to the dentist can be very scary for some people. A 2024 survey [Space Dental] showed more than half of UK adults fear the dentist somewhat or a lot. This means it’s likely that a high proportion of patients visiting your practice will be feeling nervous. If, after an examination it turns out that they need treatment, this anxiety may well heighten. Show empathy by acknowledging these feelings and take things slowly by saying something like: “I understand this feels overwhelming, but we’ll go through each step together.” Reassurance is what’s needed when someone is feeling anxious or fearful. The Space Dental survey found that pain was what caused the biggest fear about visiting the dentist. Letting them know that their experience will be comfortable can help alleviate some of that fear and anxiety.
GDC Principle 2 in practice
Pay attention to non-verbal cues
– George Bernard Shaw
Principle 2 is a daily responsibility. Dental teams should ensure they give patients the information they need in a way they can understand. Treat them as individuals and take account of any cultural needs. Give them the time they need to ensure they understand what’s being said and check they really have understood before moving forward. Present all the risks, benefits and alternatives honestly, including doing nothing. Also, respect their right to make decisions about their own care.
How to communicate effectively Here are some practical suggestions you can use every day in practice:
Listen actively
Listening actively means listening to understand, not just listening to respond. If a patient is expressing a concern, show that you value how they feel. Maintain eye contact and avoid interrupting. Demonstrate that you have heard them by reflecting back what they’ve said: “So you’re worried about the pain?”
Use plain language
Keep things simple. Use everyday language and avoid jargon. For example, instead of “You need an endodontic procedure,” say: “We need to treat the inside of your tooth to remove infection.”
There is more to communication than just words. Your tone, posture, and facial expressions all matter too. Stay calm, confident and approachable, especially if you’re handling a complaint. Let the person have their say without interrupting and listen respectfully. Staying calm can help to diffuse a situation so that you can look at finding a way forward.
Check understanding
For consent to be valid, the patient needs to have understood what the treatment entails. To check they really
have understood, ask them to explain to you in their own words what they believe will happen. Try asking them “Can you tell me what you understand about the next step?”. This gives you the opportunity to correct any misapprehensions before going ahead. In addition to this, you should give patients a written treatment plan that they can refer to. Many dentists adopt a shared decisionmaking approach. This is where the dentist's expertise (the various options, evidence, potential risks etc) is combined with the patient's preferences, values and personal circumstances to reach a mutually agreed-upon decision, rather than leaving the patient to simply make up their own mind.
Building trust
Trust has already been mentioned as an essential component of a successful dentist/patient relationship and it grows when patients feel respected and informed. Always introduce yourself and treat each patient as an individual. Personalise your conversations by using their name and referring to previous visits. Be transparent about how much things will cost, what risks (if any) are involved in treatments and make them aware of alternatives. You should also respect the patient’s autonomy. They have the right to make their own decisions regarding treatment so you should never pressure them into treatment. As well as being good ways to build trust, Principle 2 obliges practices to do these things anyway.
Principle Two - Communicate effectively with patients Patients can expect: • To receive full, clear and accurate information that they can understand, before, during and after treatment, so that they can make informed decisions in partnership with the people providing their care. • A clear explanation of the treatment, possible outcomes and what they can expect. • To know how much their treatment will cost before it starts and to be told about any changes. • Communication that they can understand. • To know the names of those providing their care. Practice Plan has been welcoming practices into the family since 1995, helping them to grow profitable businesses through the introduction of practice-branded membership plans. With over 300 years’ dental experience in our field team, if you’re looking for a provider that has that family feel but knows a thing or two about dentistry then you’re in safe hands. Be Practice Plan and get in touch. Call 01691 684165 or visit www.practiceplan.co.uk/be-practice-plan/
To complete the questions and gain one hour of Enhanced CPD, visit https://cpd.the-probe.co.uk/
The Probe | February 26
03/02/2026 22:33:35