Dentists Find Patients Texting During Treatment a Problem

Text messaging has become so pervasive nowadays. It is not only a distraction to drivers in vehicle, but also a temptation to patients on dental chair. In a recent survey, an overwhelming majority of dentists said their patients are sending text messages regularly while receiving dental care.

The survey was conducted over two weeks in July among 200 dentists on the Chicago Dental Society’s Facebook Fan Page. Results show that more than 4 out of 5 of the dental doctors have encountered in-chair texters. Among them, 46 percent said this activity is disruptive and hinders them from providing the best care to patients.

Although almost one-third of the dentists has an explicit policy posted in the clinic to request patients to turn off their phones, most simply ignore it. "Many times the patient sits up during treatment to answer a call or text," said one of the dentists. Another respondent also said she was surprised when a member of the clergy kept answering his phone during treatment, even though he admitted the calls were not urgent.

Interestingly, teenagers are less disruptive compared with adult patients, not because they do not text in chair, but because they have already mastered typing to an extent that they don’t even have to look down at their messaging phone keyboards at all. "Most of my younger patients are very polite about using their cell phones in the chair. The kids never answer their phone while getting treatment." said Dr. Cissy Furusho, a pediatric dentist in Chicago.

While some dentists urge patients to stop texting on dental chair as they consider the habit as a breach of etiquette, some also think that it can be a barrier to the communication between dentists and patients. "It's more difficult to communicate with a patient about recommendations," one respondent wrote.

That is why the Chicago Dental Society encourages people to respect their dental doctors regarding the use of cell phone. Of course, the best way is to turn off your cell phone beforehand to avoid any interruption to the dental care, no matter which iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, Samsung, LG or HTC handset you are using.

Stop testing your dentists’ patience, dental patients!

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