Components of patient satisfaction with a dental restorative visit: results from the Dental Practice-Based Research Network.

BACKGROUND: The authors conducted a study to identify components of patient satisfaction with restorative dental care and to test the hypothesis that certain dentist, patient and procedure factors are associated with patient satisfaction.
METHODS: Practitioner-investigators (P-Is) from 197 practices in The Dental Practice-Based Research Network (DPBRN) recruited consecutively seen patients who had defective permanent-tooth restorations that were replaced or repaired. At the end of the treatment visit, P-Is asked each participant to complete a satisfaction survey and mail it directly to a DPBRN regional coordinator.
RESULTS: Analysis of the results of 5,879 satisfaction surveys revealed three satisfaction components: interpersonal relationship-comfort factors, material choice-value factors and sensory-evaluative factors. Satisfaction was highest among patients who received care in a private practice model, whose restorations were repaired rather than replaced and whose restored teeth were not molars.
CONCLUSION: These data suggest that a patient's judgments of a dentist's skills and quality of care are based on personal interactions with the dentist, the level of comfort the patient perceives while receiving care and any experience of posttreatment sensitivity in the treated tooth. These conclusions have direct implications for management of patient care before, during and after the procedure. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: By taking a patient-centered approach, dentists should seek to understand how patients evaluate and rate the service provided, thereby enabling themselves to focus on what each patient values most.