The recent ‘Consumer Oral Health Survey 2019’ from Simplyhealth Professionals has asked patients what they look for when choosing a new dental practice or dentist.
Unsurprisingly the dental research shows that ensuring patients’ teeth and gums being kept healthy is the most important consideration when choosing a dentist. This had a joint score with ‘confidence that the dental surgery is kept sterile and hygienic’ at 90%. Shortly behind was ‘ trust in my dentist’ at 89%.
Dr Catherine Rutland, head of professional support services at Simplyhealth Professionals said, ‘Our data trends show that confidence in surgery hygiene, ensuring the health of teeth and gums and trust in their dentist continue to be the most important factors to patients for a sixth year,’
‘Interestingly, the desire for cosmetic treatments has risen by 80% year on year.
‘These valuable insights are helpful to tailor services and patient communications.’
Rise in cosmetic dentistry
Cosmetic dentistry (38%) is now listed as one of the needs patients look for when choosing their dentist.
The rest of the results show:
90% – confidence that the surgery is sterile and hygienic
90% – the dentist will ensure the health of my teeth and gums
89% – trust in my dentist
88% – treatments and procedures are explained clearly
87% – good customer service
87% – being seen quickly in an emergency
84% – convenience of appointment times
84% – being seen on time for appointments
82% – convenience of practice location
82% – steps to maintain oral health between appointments are clearly communicated
81% – value for money
80% – cosmetic dentistry
79% – reputation/recommendation of practice
50% – they offer a range of payment options
42% – quality awards and accreditations
34% – they offer cosmetic non-dental treatments.
‘As cosmetic dentistry is on the rise, it is important for dentists to continue to evolve with their patients,’ Dr Rutland continued.
Satisfied patients
The survey shows 85% of adults that visit the dentist regularly are satisfied with the dental care they receive.
This rises to 93% for those patients on a dental plan.
‘It is reassuring that a high percentage of patients are satisfied with the dental care they receive,’ Dr Rutland concluded.
‘Particularly, 87% of adults aged 55 and over were satisfied which was the highest of all age groups monitored.’
At FHDC we value patient feedback. This can either be given in person at the practice or via the feedback form here. We publish feedback on the Reviews page on our website and we also encourage people to provide feedback and rate us on Google.
