Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Association between patient satisfaction and success of the treatment determines the quality of health care. Measuring the level of satisfaction is an important factor for improving the quality of services provided by a system, so it is necessary to determine the expectations of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient satisfaction from services provided by the dental faculty of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, 385 patients were randomly selected from different departments of dental faculty including prosthodontics, endodontics, periodontics, operative dentistry, radiology and oral medicine. A two-part questionnaire including demographic characteristics of patients and satisfaction from reception process, infection control, student and personnel behavior, and the outcome of treatment was filled out by patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.
Results: The most dissatisfying factor was the time wasted in paying the cost and the most satisfying factor was student behavior. General satisfaction form the process was evaluated (complete satisfaction 51.9%, partial satisfaction 38.4% and dissatisfaction 9.6%), and 62.9% of patients were completely agree with introducing dental faculty to others.
Conclusion: The most satisfying item was student behavior which indicates that this factor is of great importance in increasing the quality of treatment. The deficiencies determined by patient can provide reliable data for determination and regulation of health care policies.

  Background and Aims: One of the important aspects for evaluating an organization is assessing the level of satisfaction of the clients. This study was conducted to compare the level of satisfaction between traditional and new methods of delivering dental care in the clinic of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

  Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 308 patients received dental care at the dental clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in spring 2010. Data were collected from Comprehensive Care Unit (CCU) in addition to 7 isolated clinics including restorative, periodontics, endodontics, radiology, and prosthodontics (fix and removable) using translated version of the Dental Satisfaction Questionnaire (DSQ), consisted of 19 questions in three main domains in addition to demographic questions. Descriptive statistics was used as percentage of answers. In order to compare the mean score between domains ANOVA test was used.

  Results: The standardized mean scores in each domain were: pain control 58±17, access 59±12, quality 68±11 and total Dental Satisfaction Index (DSI) score of 62±10. 92.5% of the respondents reported that students were very careful when examining their patients. 96.8% reported that they treat their patients with respect . The most common reasons for dissatisfaction apart from waiting time and getting appointments were not providing preventive care and pain control.

  Conclusion: The results of this study shows acceptable level of satisfaction with dental care in teaching clinics of this dental school, however efforts on implementing preventive care and pain control strategies are suggested.

  Background and Aims: Temporomandibular joint disorders are common problems among patients referring to dental schools and clinics. However appropriate treatment modalities are performed for the TMD patients in dental school, the results and success rate of these treatments are not studied distinctly. The aims of this study was to determine the treatment performed for temporomandibular patients at the TMJ department of Tehran University dental school in 2010-11 .

  Materials and Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional trial, 85 TMD patients treated at the TMJ department of Tehran University dental school were examined at least 3 months after the treatments. The patients demographic data ,TMD signs and symptoms and the improvements occurred in TMD disorder were determined (complete, partial and no improvement). The patients satisfaction regarding the treatment results were investigated and data were analyzed regarding the presence of different TMD signs and symptoms before and after the treatment using Mann-Whitney U test .

  Results: TMJ pain (35 cases, 42.2%), click (33 cases, 39.8%) and muscle tenderness (26 cases, 31.3%) were the most prevalent obtained signs and symptoms. The mean age of the patients were 32.3 years old while females were the predominant group (72 cases vs.11 one). 44 individuals (53.0%) were treated by splint, 11 ones (13.3%) with anterior repositioning splint and 17 individuals (92.5%) were managed by physiotherapy plus splint. 65 patients (87.3%) were satisfied with the results and 16 ones (19.3%) were not. After the treatment, patients with TMJ pain (P<0.001) and muscle tenderness (P<0.001) showed significantly lower satisfaction than that of patients with no signs. No other significant differences were noted between patients satisfaction regarding the presence of TMD signs and symptoms (P>0.05) .

  Conclusion: The results showed that the treatments presented for the TMD patients at Tehran University dental school were successful and most patients received satisfactory treatment.