Because of concern about the communication skills of dentists from countries of the European Economic Community wishing to practice in England, a project was undertaken to develop a pilot test of English language skills focusing on listening and speaking skills in dental practice contexts. This report is a descriptive statement of the nature of dentist-patient communication in general practice and dental hospitals, the first of two parts of the project's final report. The fieldwork undertaken in early 1980 is described and a resulting preliminary description of dentist-patient interaction follows, with hypotheses concerning the perceptions dentists and their patients have of the dental consultation. The bulk of the report is an analysis of several dental consultations, with particular attention given to the problem of patients' reports of the symptoms and dentists' responses to them. The report concludes with suggestions for further research in dentist-patient communication. (Author/MSE)