Dental/dental hygiene trainees discuss race, bias, and trust. (2023)
I had an African-American patient who said, “I’ve been treated different ways, different places, and a lot of people think that Black people don’t need as much anesthetic.” And so she said that, and she almost got a little bit upset when she was telling me about it. And so it’s those kind of things, that instruction to listen to your patients, make sure your ears perk up. So that when you have the opportunity to learn something from a patient, you actually take it to heart. Thankfully I have a great relationship with that patient, and we connect on a lot of levels, even though we come from totally different backgrounds. So it felt like it was very easy for her to share that with me, I think. And therefore I assured her, “Hey, I want to do the very best for you as I would do for anyone.” So it was a really good interaction.