Patients’ Perception of the ‘Rough’ Dentist During Routine Dental Procedures: A Narrative Review

Author

Dr. Althaaf Khan


Abstract

 Background: Patients often describe a dentist as “rough” even when routine procedures such as local anaesthesia, scaling, restorations and extractions are performed to an accepted standard. This perception influences satisfaction, trust, attendance and the development of dental fear, yet it is rarely defined or examined as a construct in its own right.

Objective: To synthesise the available literature on why patients perceive routine dental treatment, and the dentist delivering it, as rough, and to identify modifiable clinician, patient and environmental factors.

Methods: A narrative review was conducted. Literature on dental pain, dental anxiety, dentist–patient communication, trust and patient-centred care was identified through targeted searches of biomedical databases and reference lists, and interpreted thematically.

Findings: Perceived roughness appears to arise from the interaction of six domains: anticipated and actual pain, dental anxiety and prior experience, unpleasant sensory and tactile stimuli, limited communication and sense of control, embarrassment and vulnerability, and loss of trust. Pain and anxiety are strongly and reciprocally related, and patients’ judgments of a dentist’s gentleness are shaped as much by interpersonal behaviour as by technical handling. Evidence specific to the label “rough” is limited, and most studies address dental anxiety or satisfaction rather than the perception itself.

Conclusion: Perceived roughness is a patient-experienced outcome that is only partly explained by technique. Gentle tissue handling, careful anaesthetic delivery, explanation before and during treatment, shared control signals and attention to anxiety may reduce it. Validated measures and primary studies of this construct are needed.


Keywords

dentist–patient relationship; dental anxiety; patient perception; dental pain; patient-centred care; communication



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References


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