Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Providing quality services is one of the important goals of the health system. Dental services and treatments are expensive. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the perceived quality of dental treatment services.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive-cross study conducted in 2 qualitative-quantitative phases. Data were collected using interviews and pairwise comparison matrix with 20 dentists working in NAJA dental clinics who were selected by targeted sampling. The validity and reliability of the interviews were determined by long-term engagement of their peers and negative case analysis. The validity of the pairwise comparison matrix was determined through the incompatibility rate (>0.1). Data were analyzed by coding and effect intensity tests (R+J), descriptive statistic test (mean, standard deviation) using SPSS23, Maxqda and matlab R2017b.
Results: Content analysis of the interview showed that tangible factors, assurance, trust, and empathy are the factors affecting the quality of dental treatment services. In the second phase, data analysis showed that trust and empathy (28.204), assurance (24.356), and tangible factors (17.798) are the most to the least important factors in the quality of dental treatment services (P=0.1).
Conclusion: Trust and empathy were the most important factors in the quality of dental treatment services. Managers of dental clinics and dentist need to improve the quality of dental treatment services by emphasizing respect for patients in accordance with the promise to act in the field of providing treatments to patients.

Conclusion: Many elderly people avoid the treatment of oral diseases during coronavirus pandemic due to fear of coronavirus, high dental costs, lack of access to appropriate services, and this causes irreparable problems in their health. Therefore, it is recommended to provide practical solutions to facilitate the dental treatment of elderly patients.

Background and Aims: Activity-based costing enumerate every input consumed in treatment. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the dental treatment protocols and the ordinary circumstances of patients. The aim of this study was to calculate and compare the costs of three common dental services in Iran from the viewpoint of the providers and recipients of the services before the Covid-19 pandemic (2019) and during the pandemic (2021).
Materials and Methods: Direct medical and non-medical costs were considered from the service provider's perspective. Direct medical costs, indirect costs, direct non-medical costs, and intangible costs were considered from the recipient's perspective. To calculate the equivalent costs, the base year was considered 2021, and the costs of 2019 were calculated with a discount rate of 16%.
Results: From the service provider's perspective before the pandemic, the cost of dental amalgam restoration was 2,851,235 Rials, root canal treatment was 6,351,580 Rials, and tooth extraction was 1,887,295 Rials. The cost of these services in 2021 was 5,562,150 Rials, 8,070,591 Rials, and 4,865,563 Rials, respectively. From the recipient's perspective, before the pandemic, the cost of tooth restoration was 715,466 Rials, root canal treatment was 2,883,001 Rials, and tooth extraction was 3,267,359 Rials. The cost of the mentioned services in the year 2021 was 1,212,528 Rials, 3,971,640, and 3,680,880 Rials, respectively.
Conclusion: The Covid-19 pandemic has had an effect on increasing the cost of dental services from both the service provider and recipient perspective, but economic volatility has a vital role in increasing the estimated costs in the country. Probably, a part of the increase in costs was due to the role of brokers in providing dental materials and equipment.