Spanish for Dental Professionals: A Step by Step Handbook

This handbook and accompanying CD have been designed to help dentists, dental hygienists, and other dental personnel communicate with Spanish-speaking patients. Intended for novice learners as well as those who need to polish their rusty high school Spanish, Paso a Paso can be used in emergency situations or as a source of phrases to make routine visits more comfortable for patients—or anywhere between those extremes.

The book includes aspects of Latino culture vital for any dental professional as well as key dental health phrases and useful grammar. Paso a Paso focuses on learning, practicing, and speaking both standard and colloquial Spanish for an office setting.

The accompanying CD presents dialogues in which Latino patients interact with health professionals using a variety of accents and levels of fluency. Like the book, the CD will be useful in workshops, work-site training, and individual learning. The chapter structure permits work-site training of an hour a day for six weeks. The CD will not be sold separately.

From Paso a Paso/Step by Step, Chapter Two

"In Latin America, more than one last name is used to describe family relationships. Latino names consist of a first and middle name, or "given names," followed by the father's last name, followed by the mother's paternal surname—in that order. Many people shorten their names by using only an initial for the maternal surname. For example, in the story, Marco's name would be written Marco Antonio Hernández Calderón or Marco Hernández C. So, the surname by which official records are kept is the first surname!

"It is important for Americans and Latinos to understand these differences, to record the correct surname on dental records, consistently. Among Latinos, the first last name is the equivalent of a last name in the US."