Patient Satisfaction with Dental Services Provided by Dental Students

Objectives: Patient satisfaction is important in dental care, and has implications for understanding patient behavior, evaluating services and as an indicator of quality; however, limited information is available on satisfaction and factors that may influence patient satisfaction in academic dental settings in Canada. The aim of this study is to assess patient satisfaction with the dental care delivered by students at the University of Toronto, and to explore differences in satisfaction by demographics, health status, type of dental visiting and treatment expectations.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto. Data were collected using the Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSQ), with the addition of questions pertaining to the interpersonal aspects of dental care. Percentages, means and standard deviations were calculated. Differences in satisfaction levels were explored across the DSQ subscales of pain, quality, access and overall DSQ using t-tests and ANOVA.
Results: A mean DSQ score of 3.90/5 was observed, indicating a generally high level of satisfaction (n=389). Highest satisfaction was observed for the subscale quality (4.10) and lowest for the subscale cost (3.53). Some subscales exhibited differences by gender (quality), education (quality, DSQ), self-perceived oral health (pain), ethnicity (quality, pain, DSQ), and treatment expectations (all subscales and DSQ). Males with less education, poor oral health and ethnic minority groups reported lower satisfaction (p<0.05). No statistically significant (p<0.05) differences were observed for age, marital status, income, dental insurance, type of dental visiting and self-perceived general health.
Conclusions: The majority of patients were satisfied with their care. The differences observed help identify patients who are at risk of having a negative experience. Minimizing cost barriers could improve satisfaction for subgroups of patients.