Patient-dental student provider communication in an academic dental clinic setting: A dyadic data analysis.

PURPOSE: Patient-dentist communication is an inherently dyadic social process; however, it is rarely regarded as such in research and pedagogy. This study utilizes a dyadic data analysis approach to study patient-dental student provider communication in an academic dental clinic. PROCEDURES: Using pairwise data collected from patient-dental student provider dyads, we conducted unadjusted and adjusted actor-partner interdependence models to examine the association of intrapersonal (actor) and interpersonal (partner) effects of three communication skills on the assessment of appointment interaction among patient-dental student provider dyads in a pre-doctoral comprehensive care academic dental clinic setting. MAIN FINDINGS: Actor effects were most evident among the associations in the study. Dental student providers' assessment of their own shared decision-making predicted positive changes in their overall interaction assessment in both unadjusted and fully adjusted models. Patients' ratings of their dental student provider's capability/confidence predicted positive changes in their overall interaction assessment in both unadjusted and adjusted models. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that dental students and their patients are primarily impacted by actor perspectives regarding dental student communication and its impact on the assessment of their respective overall appointment interaction. Findings suggest a need for the incorporation of interpersonal skill building in collaboration with patients to strengthen the communication skills and practice of dental students.

Effects of Oral Commensal Streptococci on Porphyromonas gingivalis Invasion into Oral Epithelial Cells.

The objective of this study was to determine if the interaction between common oral commensal bacteria and oral epithelial cells would provide protective effects against the invasion of periodontopathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis. Oral epithelial OKF6/Tert cells were used in co-cultures with Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus mitis, and Streptococcus intermedius. The viability of OKF6/Tert cells following a bacterial challenge was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion. The adherence of commensal species was determined by CFU counts. P. gingivalis invasion in OKF6/Tert cells was assessed before and after exposure to commensal species according to CFU counts. Viability assays show that only S. gordonii and S. intermedius display low toxicity toward OKF6/Tert cells. Both commensals adhere to OKF6/Tert cells at an average ratio of 1 CFU to 10 cells. P. gingivalis invasion into host cells is significantly reduced by 25% or 60% after exposure to S. gordonii or S. intermedius, respectively. The results suggest that these commensal species bind to host cells and diminish P. gingivalis invasion. This is important in the context of periodontal disease since P. gingivalis primarily acts on the host by invading it. Therefore, efforts to decrease invasion will eventually lead to future therapies harnessing the mechanisms employed by oral commensal bacteria.