Compliance is defined as the extent to which a person’s health care behaviors coincide with medical, dental, or health advice. A number of writers have advocated the use of the term adherence arguing that compliance denotes subservience to an authoritarian health care professional as well as having other negative connotations. The term adherence, some argue, suggests more mutual involvement and respect among both parties in the interaction. This argument is far from being resolved and the terms compliance and adherence will be used interchangeably in the following discussion.