Communication Sources Used by Patients Before Teeth Extraction

Objectives: To determine which communication sources (CS) patients use to find the information before the third molars extraction (TME) procedure and patients' need to interact virtually with the doctor.
Methods: 95 patients from Vilnius University Hospital Zalgiris Clinic participated in this study. Prior to the sedation-assisted TME, a questionnaire assessing general demographics and favoured communication sources was administered using a 5-point Likert scales (response frequency 95%). Statistical analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS v.23 statistical package, descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square, McNemar’s tests and linear regression were applied. Statistical significance level p <0.05.
Results: The mean age of respondents was 23.30 (± 6.34), the ratio of men to women was 1:1.7. The main CS were consulting a doctor (68.4%), family members / friends (42.1%) and using social media apps (40.3%). 20-30-year-old patients more frequently (p=0.015) chose social media apps: Facebook (79.3%) and Instagram (66.3%). 30-40-year-old patients preferred (p=0.032)online communication forums (56.1%) and Wikipedia (44.6%). Women more frequently (p<0.001) chose online websites (88.4%) than press (23.1%), while men were more likely to find information about TME on press (87.1%), TV (68.2%) and radio (43.5%) than online websites (24.5%). 80.7% of patients felt the information about TME deficiency online. The majority (63.2%) of patients would like to interact virtually with the doctor performing the procedure, 67.6% would prefer virtual communication before TME during a COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to communicate online would decrease patients’ anxiety before TME for 52.6% of the patients.
Conclusions: While doctors’ supplied information remains the most important, a significant proportion of patients use various CS prior to the TME procedure. CS should provide more reliable information about teeth extraction as it is a useful channel for patients, especially young generation, seeking support. Doctors could interact with patients online as it reduces patients’ anxiety.