[The relationship between communication styles of dentists and the satisfaction of their patients].

Patient satisfaction is a rather complicated issue. This paper describes the results of a pilot study regarding the influence of dentists' communication styles on patient satisfaction. A distinction was made between an affective and a control style. The study was conducted among 11 dentists and 22 patients. The results of this study indicated that dentists' communication styles were somewhat associated with patient satisfaction. It was suggested that dentists should not only give information to patients adequately, but should also pay attention to their personal communication style.