Faith can affect treatment decisions, appointment planning and workplace relationships, yet dentistry rarely discusses it. Professor Raman Bedi argues that greater understanding would improve patient care.
In 2003, Alastair Campbell famously declared that new Labour did not ‘do God’. Dentistry has often taken the same line, but our patients and colleagues bring their faith into the surgery every day.
Ask most dental professionals what shapes a patient’s experience of care and they will mention anxiety, cost, access or a bad experience in the past. Few would mention faith.
Yet for millions of people in the UK, religious belief informs how they understand their bodies, health and treatment decisions. It also shapes many of the people who deliver that care. It is a subject we rarely discuss openly, and perhaps it is time we did.
