Consumer behavior analysis for improved dental services marketing

Concordance between patient satisfaction and the dentist's view: findings from The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network

OBJECTIVES

In this study, the authors examined the dentist's view of the patient's experience and concordance with the patient's rating of satisfaction.

METHODS

Practitioners from 197 practices in The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network recruited consecutively seen patients who had defective restorations that were replaced or repaired. At the end of the dental visit, the treating dentist and 5,315 patients completed and returned a survey that asked about the patient's satisfaction.

RESULTS

Most dentists viewed their patients as having been satisfied with the treatment experience (n = 4,719 [89 percent]) and as having perceived them as friendly (n = 5,136 [97 percent]). Dentists had less strong feelings about whether patients had a preference for the restorative material (n = 2,271 [43 percent]) or an interest in obtaining information about the procedure (n = 1,757 [33 percent]). Overall, patients were satisfied, and most of the time dentists correctly predicted this outcome. Among patients who were less than satisfied, there was a substantial subset of cases in which dentists were not aware of this dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSION

For improved patient-centered care, dentists should assess patients' desires, expectations and perceptions of the dental care experience and then manage or correct the expectations and perceptions as needed.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

By taking a patient-centered approach, dentists should seek to understand how patients evaluate and rate the services provided, thereby enabling them to focus on what each patient values most.

A review of patient satisfaction: 2. Dental patient satisfaction: an appraisal of recent literature

This paper examines the way patient satisfaction is perceived in the dental literature. The majority of studies carried out since the early 1980s concentrate on patient perceptions of various service quality attributes and the role that sociodemographic variables play in determining satisfaction. Recent work concerning attribution theory suggests that two concepts, duty and culpability, may be central to explaining this process.

Influence of pain-free dentistry and convenience of dental office on the choice of a dental practitioner: an experimental investigation

Fear of dental pain or dental anxiety is not an uncommon phenomenon. Evidence supports dental patients' concern for dental pain. This study examines the influence of dental pain and convenience of dentist's office on attitude towards the dentist as well as the intention to switch to the dentist. The results reveal a strong effect of dental pain on patients' attitudes. The intention to switch to a pain-free dental facility, however, depends on satisfaction with the current dentist.

Key steps in the strategic analysis of a dental practice

As dentistry is becoming increasingly competitive, dentists must focus more on strategic analysis. This paper lays out seven initial steps that are the foundation of strategic analysis. It introduces and describes the use of service-customer matrices and location-proximity maps as tools in competitive positioning. The paper also contains a brief overview of the role of differentiation and cost-control in determining key success factors for dental practices.