Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Selecting an appropriate treatment plan is one of the most critical aspects of dental treatments. The purpose of this study was to compare multimedia system and conventional method in patients' selecting prosthetic treatment and the time consumed.
Materials and Methods: Ninety patients were randomly divided into three groups. Patients in group A, once were instructed using the conventional method of dental office and once multimedia system and time was measured in seconds from the beginning of the instruction till the patient had came to decision. The patients were asked about the satisfaction of the method used for them. In group B, patients were only instructed using the conventional method, whereas they were only exposed to soft ware in group C. The data were analyzed with Paired-T-test (in group A) and T-test and Mann-Whitney test (in groups B and C).
Result: There was a significant difference between multimedia system and conventional method in group A and also between groups B and C (P<0.001). In group A and between groups B and C, patient's satisfaction about multimedia system was better. However, in comparison between groups B and C, multimedia system did not have a significant effect in treatment selection score (P=0.08).
Conclusion: Using multimedia system is recommended due to its high ability in giving answers to a large number of patient's questions as well as in terms of marketing.