Patients' criteria for choosing a dentist

TY - JOUR

T1 - Patients' criteria for choosing a dentist

T2 - comparison between a university-based setting and private dental practices

AU - Lamprecht, Ragna

AU - Struppek, Julia

AU - Heydecke, Guido

AU - Reissmann, Daniel R

N1 - © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2020/8

Y1 - 2020/8

N2 - Most clinical studies in dentistry are conducted in university-based settings. However, whether findings can be generalised to private dental practices is not clear. Aims of this study were to determine patients' criteria for choosing a dentist, and to assess whether criteria differ between patients in university dental clinic and private dental practices. In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 300 subjects involving dental patients of a university dental clinic and private dental practices, and subjects from general population (each n = 100) were included. Criteria for choosing a dentist were assessed with a 31-item questionnaire, covering socio-demographic characteristics, qualifications, psychosocial skills, practice structure, practice offers and accessibility, with a 6-point ordinal rating scale ranging from "very crucial"-(5) to "not crucial at all"-(0). A total of 189 subjects (63%) provided completed questionnaires for analyses. Dentists' psychosocial skills (mean 4.4) were rated as most important when choosing a dentist, whereas socio-demographic characteristics were of almost no significance (mean 1.0). Significant differences between settings were observed only for practice offers and accessibility with highest ratings in university setting. However, after controlling for potential confounders, ratings differed only slightly and not statistically significantly. In conclusion, dentists' psychosocial skills appear to be most important criteria for choosing a dentist. Setting-related differences in criteria seem to be likely but obviously result from differences in socio-demographic characteristics.

AB - Most clinical studies in dentistry are conducted in university-based settings. However, whether findings can be generalised to private dental practices is not clear. Aims of this study were to determine patients' criteria for choosing a dentist, and to assess whether criteria differ between patients in university dental clinic and private dental practices. In this cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 300 subjects involving dental patients of a university dental clinic and private dental practices, and subjects from general population (each n = 100) were included. Criteria for choosing a dentist were assessed with a 31-item questionnaire, covering socio-demographic characteristics, qualifications, psychosocial skills, practice structure, practice offers and accessibility, with a 6-point ordinal rating scale ranging from "very crucial"-(5) to "not crucial at all"-(0). A total of 189 subjects (63%) provided completed questionnaires for analyses. Dentists' psychosocial skills (mean 4.4) were rated as most important when choosing a dentist, whereas socio-demographic characteristics were of almost no significance (mean 1.0). Significant differences between settings were observed only for practice offers and accessibility with highest ratings in university setting. However, after controlling for potential confounders, ratings differed only slightly and not statistically significantly. In conclusion, dentists' psychosocial skills appear to be most important criteria for choosing a dentist. Setting-related differences in criteria seem to be likely but obviously result from differences in socio-demographic characteristics.

KW - Attitude of Health Personnel

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Dentists

KW - Humans

KW - Private Practice

KW - Surveys and Questionnaires

KW - Universities

U2 - 10.1111/joor.12995

DO - 10.1111/joor.12995

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 32428967

VL - 47

SP - 1023

EP - 1030

JO - J ORAL REHABIL

JF - J ORAL REHABIL

SN - 0305-182X

IS - 8

ER -