Dentistry is easy, people can be hard?

 I have been a dentist for over 40 years and at this point most dental procedures are straight forward and relatively easy for me. Taking care of  people with differing expectations can sometimes be the more challenging part of dentistry.

I personally enjoy chatting with patients while I'm treating them. Of course sometimes our conversations can be more of a monologue since at times their mouths are propped open and they can't contribute easily. Most of the times our banter serves to distract my patients from the procedure they are having done and lessens their anxiety, but not always.

I was cleaning a long time patients teeth and it became clear that she wasn't enjoying the conversation and really just wanted her cleaning finished without a lot of chit chat. . She seemed to be channeling Sargent Joe Friday from an old episode of Dragnet ( just the facts please!) It can be hard to figure out why a patient clams up, but there are a number of possible explanations including that they are angry or resentful about something that went on in our office.

In my experience another reason that some patients are not that friendly can be that they are more affluent than their dental provider and do not see the need to make a personal connection with those who are providing them with health services. This is a manifestation of snobby behavior and I do not often experience this in my practice.  When it does occur most of these patients eventually leave on their own accord because my staff and I are quite friendly and they choose a practice that is more snobby than ours possibly because "birds of a feather flock together".

Dental phobic patients can be extremely quiet, since they can be petrified and are just not able to contribute to or listen to a conversation. They usually are like this for the first one or two visits or possibly longer.

People with some psychiatric conditions can also give the dentist "the silent treatment" due to their condition. 

Some people are just very busy and are not into making a connection.  They want to get done what needs to be done, as expeditiously as possible. This was often the vibe that my above mentioned  patient transmitted during her numerous visits to our office.

Frankly when I do get the silent treatment  I am often  left wondering if I did or said something wrong?  I try hard to perform the best dentistry that I can and really want to create a "happy" environment in our office. After my patient left, I asked my assistant what she thought and she answered that our patient wasn't in the mood for conversation. She must be right because before she left she booked and an appointment for her next treatment. She had a cracked tooth and wanted it addressed before the crack worsened.