Factors of patient satisfaction/dissatisfaction in a dental faculty outpatient clinic in Turkey

Objectives: Being service providers, dental professionals should satisfy th eir consumers/dental patients. This study investigates satisfaction with de ntal care among the patients of a dental faculty outpatient clinic of a maj or university in izmir, Turkey. Method: The study was performed on 1001 pat ients of whom 674 filled out the questionnaire containing sociodemographic items and open-ended questions to determine the factors of (dis)satisfactio n. The open-ended questions were content analyzed, and each patient was sco red according to his comments: "complaining: (0)",''both praising and compl aining: (1)", "no comment: (2)", and "praising: (3)". Each factor that has an impact on the decision of the study sample was determined by statistical analyses of data, using student t-test, chi-square test, and multiple regr ession analysis. Results: Most of the patients were highly educated (74.7%) , had a high income (48.7%), and were young to middle-aged (73.1%). There w as a well-balanced gender representation. The patient sample had sought car e mostly for dental caries, periodontal diseases, problems with old restora tions, and prosthetic rehabilitation. Of 1001 patients, 38.6% were satisfie d with the dental care they received, 23.8% were both satisfied and dissati sfied, 5% were dissatisfied, and 32.7% failed to comment. No significant di fferences were observed between the satisfaction/dissatisfaction scores and sociodemographic variables of the patients in the groups (P>0.05). The mos t important components of satisfaction were found to be "relationship betwe en dentists and patients" (P<0.001), "organized service system" (P<0.001), and "scientific ability of dental personnel" (P<0.001). The most prominent complaints were "long treatment span" (P<0.001), "disorganized service syst em" (P<0.001), and "slowness of radiographical examination procedures" (P<0 .001). Conclusions: Despite the significant variations among the cultural a nd ethnic structures of different societies, personal interactions have pri ority in establishing satisfying dental service.