Recently, medical communication between not only patients but also experts providing medical care has begun to be considered important (Hong-hui Han, 2009), and a smooth communication between medical staff members is essential to thorough medical care...
Recently, medical communication between not only patients but also experts providing medical care has begun to be considered important (Hong-hui Han, 2009), and a smooth communication between medical staff members is essential to thorough medical care for patients (Jong-oh Kang et al., 2010). This is true for dental treatment, where internal communications play a key role in providing dental services successfully to satisfy patients (Yong-sun Kim et al., 2006).
Thus, factors of verbal and non-verbal communication between dentists and dental technicians affecting the completeness of dental prostheses have been analyzed in this study.
For this study, evaluation of the completeness of dental prostheses involving 30 dentists working in dental clinics and hospitals in Seoul, 30 patients and 30 dental technicians working in dental laboratories was conducted, with prostheses (gold crown) produced by dental technicians and completed prostheses put by dentists on each patient’s tooth from Jul. 25, 2017 to Aug. 28, 2017. A total of 60 questionnaires issued for a survey, including 30 for dentists and 30 for dental technicians, were used in the final analysis.
Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics and regression analysis were carried out as measurement tools with the survey consisted of 4 questions for dentists and 6 questions for dental technicians in the area of general characteristics, 6 questions on a request for provision of materials, 6 questions on factors of a work model, 6 questions on technical factors, 7 questions on factors of a prosthesis assessment, 1 question on the way to handle an insufficient request for provision of materials, 1 question on the way to handle an insufficient work model, 1 question requested by dentists and 1 question requested by dental technicians, and all data was analyzed using SPSS V20.0 at a significance level of 5%.
The results of this study are as follows.
First, general characteristics were considered. In terms of gender, there were 23 male (76.7%) and 7 female (23.3%) dental technicians and 26 male (86.7%) and 4 female (13.3%) dentists. In terms of age, there were 6 dental technicians (20.0%) in their 20s, 10 (33.3%) in their 30s, 8 (26.7%) in their 40s and 6 (20.0%) over 50, while there were 10 dentists (33.3%) in their 30s, 9 (30.0%) in their 40s and 11 (36.7%) over 50.
In terms of academic background, 25 dental technicians (83.3%) had graduated from vocational colleges, 3 (10.0%) had graduated from four-year universities, 2 (6.7%) was attending or had graduated from graduate schools. In terms of major, 2 dentists (6.7%) majored in oral and maxillofacial surgery, 9 (30.0%) in prosthetics, 1 (3.3%) in preventive medicine, 1 (3.3%) in orthodontics, 2 (6.7%) in preservation and 1 (3.3%) in preclinical medicine, while 9 (30.0%) had no major.
The average length of dental technicians’ career was 15.8±8.7 years, while that of dentists’ career was 17.7±13.7 years. The average number of prostheses made by dental technicians was 19.9±10.85 per day, ranging from 10 to 30.
Second, 25.3%(15.58) of those surveyed chose a request for provision of materials as a factor influencing, while 76.6%(15.58), three times of the former, chose a work model. In the request for provision of materials, the average completeness was 55.0%(±21.679) and the average number of items completed was 3.3(±1.512). A completeness score of a work model was 27.90±2.964 out of 30, while that of a prosthesis was 27.90±2.964 out of 35. Among the dentists surveyed, 29 (96.7%) said that they had been requested by dental technicians about a request for provision of materials or a work model, while 1 (3.3%) said that he/she had not. An impression was the most frequent content of such requests.
Third, the following figures have been drawn from an analysis on the influences of a request for provision of materials, a work model and general characteristics on evaluation of the completeness of prosthesis: A request for provision of materials (t=-1.037, p=.310); a work model (t=2.777, p=.010); age (t=-1.018, p=.319). There was no significant difference among the influences of factors affecting evaluation of the completeness of prosthesis, a request for provision of materials, age, career and academic background, while the influence of a work model showed a distinctly significant difference.
The following figures have been drawn from an analysis on the influence of a request for provision of materials, a work model and telephone inquiries on each of those two factors: A request for provision of materials (t=-.729, p=.473); a work model (t=1.854, p=.076); an inquiry on a request for provision of materials (t=-1.559, p=.131); an inquiry on a work model (t=-.912, p=.370). There was no significant difference among influences of those factors.
In conclusion, a work model, one of the non-verbal communication factors, is more directly used in making prosthesis than verbal communication factors, and thus has more significant influence on the completeness of prostheses.
Keywords: Verbal and non-verbal communication, work model, completeness of prosthesis