How to communicate better with patients and colleagues

???????? ? ???? ??????????, but I am most likely failing (unless you know Russian).

I wrote that first sentence to illustrate a seemingly obvious point—communication is a two-way process. So it is a waste of time me writing or saying something that most of my audience are unlikely to understand. The translation of the Russian is ‘I am trying to communicate with you’ (unless, of course, my Russian-speaking colleague has played games with me and it really means: ‘my donkey is an astronaut’ or something equally silly).

You don't! Or rather, you could probably get away with engaging in minimal dialogue and confirmatory or negatory noises or gestures. This would probably not meet the spirit of Principle 2 of the General Dental Council's (GDC) Standards for the Dental Team— communicate effectively with patients (GDC, 2013).