Sir, – Fiona Reddan wrote a good article about the recently established Dental Complaints Resolution Service (HealthPlus, May 22nd). I am a dentist and a member of the Irish Dental Association and fully support the service.
However, one of the pictures with the article shows a large aggressive-looking dentist in the process of assaulting a patient and the other a dental forceps and an extracted tooth in a pool of blood. I am insulted by these images they only take from the article and have no relevance to it. They are stereotypical of tabloid reporting and I expect better from your good selves. These images only increase people’s trepidation about going to the dentist and reinforce phobias in phobic patients.
Personally, one of the most rewarding things about my job is to look after somebody who is very nervous, sort out their dental problems, and leave them afterwards wondering why they were so nervous in the first place.
We are a caring profession, we do not like negative and violent images that only increase negativity towards us. I ask you to consign this type of imagery to the history books. – Yours, etc,