Soft skills include communication skills and personality traits that are important when
choosing a dentist, but other factors within the dental office also seem to be important for patients.
The aim of this study is to evaluate factors that are important to people in a dentist as well as
characteristics of the ideal dentist and to evaluate possible age-, gender-, and residence of living
specific differences. A telephone survey with participants aged 35 years or older (ag—age group:
ag 1: 35–50 years, ag 2: 70–84 years, ag 3: >85 years) in three German cities was conducted. Data
were analyzed with respect to gender and age. Most of the participants (n = 298, 64.2%), regardless
of their own gender, age, or place of residence did not care about the gender of the dentist. In
general, the price of the treatment does not play a role in choosing the ideal dentist. Women differ
significantly from men in their choice of dentist (ANOVA p < 0.001 (preference of non-smoker),
ANOVA p < 0.001 (preference, that the dentist does not smell of smoke, importance of appearance
(ANOVA p < 0.001) and psycho-social skills, etc.). As age increases, professional experience and
psycho-social competencies are rated as important. With the increase in age, the mean value of the
desired years of professional experience increases without significant differences between age groups.
The importance of advanced training (ANOVA p < 0.001; Bonferoni correction: significant difference
between ag 1 and ag 2 p < 0.001, and ag 1 and ag 3 p < 0.001) decreases with age. Especially for
participants aged 70 to 84 years, a relationship of trust is important. Between the places of residence,
statistical differences for almost all surveyed items were found (e.g., importance that the dentist
speaks the patients’ native language ANOVA p < 0.001, Bonferoni correction: significant difference
between Berlin and Leipzig, Berlin and Mainz, and Leipzig and Mainz (each p < 0.001), dentist
has a specialization ANOVA p < 0.001, Bonferoni correction: significant difference between Berlin
and Leipzig and Berlin and Mainz (each p < 0.001), etc.). Dentists should be trained to develop
psycho-social skills to meet the special demands of the increasing older population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:87792 |
| Date | 30 October 2023 |
| Creators | Nitschke, Ina, Ulbrich, Thomas, Schrock, Annett, Hopfenmüller, Werner, Jockusch, Julia |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 8621 |
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