BALTIMORE, MD—Researchers at Johns Hopkins University recently concluded a 2-year, $300k study on how dental patients process expert advice. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of them immediately disregard recommendations for how to improve dental hygiene.
"It's well known that most people do not brush often enough, thoroughly enough, or long enough, and that very few people floss regularly and correctly," said the lead researcher, Ken Barrett, Ph.D. "We hope to use our research to better understand how we can get the public to take care of their teeth. Unfortunately, they seem hell-bent on letting their teeth disintegrate while gum disease sets in."
One of the key findings was that, although 94% of all dental patients are given some degree of instruction on improving their brushing technique, this advice is wholly ignored. Barrett, 44, explains that "At first, we tested the retention of dentists' advice after 1 week. We found that not only did 94% of all patients make no change whatsoever to their brushing habits, but 82% of patients had no recollection that their dentists had even broached the subject."
The researchers then decided to decrease the time interval to 24 hours of retention, but found that nothing had improved. Most of the patients could accurately recall having visited the dentist "recently." However, they could not recount a single piece of counsel that the dentist gave them regarding steps to improve dental hygiene.
"Finally, in the final phase of the research, we decided to ask patients what the dentist had told them just seconds after they had been advised," shared Barrett.
One recorded session shows a patient in a dental chair, and the dentist looks the patient directly in the eyes and says clearly, "You are showing the early signs of gingivitis. You need to floss every day. Understand?" The patient nods, and then a research assistant steps in immediately and asks the patient, "What did the dentist just advise you to do?" The patient stares blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds before shaking his head, bewildered.
"This is really surprising," continued Barrett. "It's like these patients enter another state of consciousness when they step into the dental office. It's not unlike a hypnotic state, except that they appear immune to suggestion."
Barrett and his team have few recommendations at this time, but hope to research possible solutions in the future, such as sending hourly text reminders to patients after they've left the office, hanging sticker charts in patients' bathrooms, or even personally visiting each patient at night to brush and floss their teeth for them.
Barrett has submitted an application for funding for the next line of research, and also recently invested heavily in several dental implant manufacturers.