By: Allen Vean, DMD

Recently, I visited my college roommate and an incident on the plane had me in shock. Around forty-five minutes into the flight, a gentleman five rows in front of me stood up and pointed a finger at a woman sitting next to him. As the woman began to stand up, the flight attendant was quick to defuse the situation. Because of the aircraft noise, I could not hear any of the conversation (thank goodness). However, I did hear the flight attendant tell the woman, “That is not going to happen; this is not a private plane.” Surely, the conversation between the parties could not have been pleasant. Towards the end of the flight, the flight attendant took each of the passengers individually to the rear of the plane. As we landed, the announcement came to stay in our seats as there would be a few people coming aboard. The exit door opened and three law enforcement officers whose size made me look small (I am 6’2”) entered the plane and escorted the involved passengers off the plane.

This incident is likely similar to ones you have seen or heard about recently. It seems to me that disrespectful behavior is becoming more frequent in our society. I have noticed incidents like this more in my daily life. While checking out at my local grocery store, a customer gives the cashier an earful because the store does not accept Apple Pay. A driver cuts off another car with aggressive driving, endangering all on the road. Attention Costco members! Coffee grinders have had to be taken out of the stores because members have tried to put nuts and chocolate-covered coffee beans in the machines on the shelves. In the bleakest of moments, sometimes it can seem like the words “please,” “thank you” and “excuse me” have disappeared from our vocabulary.

While the majority of our patients are courteous and respectful of us and our teams, sadly, rudeness and contempt have also found their way into our dental offices as well. I recently read an interesting post from BuzzFeed describing rude things people do in doctor’s offices. They are things that we see frequently in our offices and can undermine the structure of our day and, sometimes, even impact our ability to provide excellent care. Among them were talking on the phone, being late or not showing up at all, discourteous behavior toward staff, making a scene in the waiting room, disrespecting privacy, arriving unprepared and being dishonest.

Hopefully, these occurrences are limited in nature. However, some dental practices have had to deal with many of these behaviors while still trying to reach a standard of excellence in their care, all while managing a complex business. Some offices have resorted to installing video recording equipment to capture unsafe behavior. Others have worked toward building standardized documents and operational protocols to ensure patients and the team both understand their rights and responsibilities. We are all aware of the teamwork required to provide the highest quality of treatment. These instances put unneeded stress and pressure on you and the dental team, which can be overwhelming. They can also add costs to running your business and certainly add strain to being a leader for your team.

How does your practice resolve these issues? I suspect some of these behaviors initiate automatic dismissal. We are not required to treat every patient who comes to our office. Dental treatment is a two-way process. A dentist is expected to treat patients to the best of our ability in an atmosphere of respect, kindness and trust. In return, the patient must reciprocate these values. The goal for us all is to work together to create an environment of respect and safety for everyone within the dental office.

I was once told by a consultant that dentistry is still the best profession in the world. Even as we deal with the above and other issues, our profession is indeed the best!

Thank you for being part of organized dentistry. Your support is needed now more than ever. Your comments are always encouraged and welcomed.

RESOURCES

• Patient Rights & Responsibilities: https://mddsdentist.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Patient-Rights-and-Responsibilities.pdf
• Managing Patient Dismissals: https://www.ada.org/resources/practice/practice-management/managing-patients-dismissal
• Preventing Workplace Violence
  • Prevention Workplace Violence for Health Care and Social Workers: https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3148.pdf
• De-escalating Patient Encounters: https://adanews.ada.org/ada-news/2024/july/keeping-your-team-safe-how-to-de-escalate-encounters-with-aggressive-patients/
• Wellness and Compassion Fatigue
  • ADA Talkspace Go: https://www.ada.org/resources/practice/wellness/talkspace-go
  • CDA Member Assistance Program: https://cdaonline.org/dentalprofessionals/wellness/