Increasing the margin of patient safety for periodontal and implant treatments: The role of human factors.

Early complications following periodontal and dental implant surgeries are typically attributed to technique or poor biological response, ignoring the possibility of the human element. Interestingly, significant experience is not correlated with increased success, whereas evidence supports the impact of clinical behavior on patient outcome. This is the result of errors, much like those scrutinized in other high-risk technical fields, such as aviation. What can be surprising is that those who make these errors are very well acquainted with best practices. Given this, how is it possible for the conscientious practitioner to fail to apply protocols that are nonetheless very well known? Recently, the concepts of human and organizational factors have been translated to medicine, though dentistry has been slow to recognize their potential benefit. This review lists specific human factor behaviors, such as use of checklists and crew resource management, which might improve postsurgical outcome.