A new tool to support communication between dentist and patients with intellectual and communication disabilities

Patients with Intellectual and Communication Disabilities (ICD) often have difficulties understanding the process and consequences of dental treatment. This lack of understanding can increase anxiety levels within this patient group, causing them to consider the dental environment as uncomfortable and threatening.The “Stories at the Dentist” project aims to develop a tablet-based support tool to help people with ICD to more fully understand dental procedures, with the aim of improving communication and thus reducing anxiety for both patients and clinicians. Through encouraging dentist-patient communication, the project aims to enable patients to be more involved in the decision making process and to have more control over their own dental care.The focus of this paper is on the User Centered Design (UCD) methodologies used in the discovery phases of this project.