Dental/dental hygiene trainees discuss access to care. (2023)
I feel like it’s rare that we truly ask what our patients’ barriers are. It’s easy for them to just say, “Oh, I can’t make it to that many appointments,” but it’s rare that I follow up and say, like, “Why? Is it because of work? Is it because of your kids?” All that stuff was something I want to improve on personally. I don’t know, if you make it, like we have requirements you have to do throughout clinic if you have to have a conversation with a patient, in a rotation, about what their true barriers are to care would be kind interesting.