GENERAL DENTISTRY DENTAL NEWS, VOLUME XVII, NUMBER II, 2010 disagree with on a 5 point scale. Demographic questions were added. (See table 1) Four questions concerning the importance of location and scheduling convenience were added to the survey, and one question concerning the importance of addressing the ini- tial complaint also was added. The patients? questionnaire was translated into Arabic and then back translated to English by a sec- ond party to ensure accuracy of the translation. The dentist ques- tionnaire was administered in English. The survey took about twen- ty minutes to complete. The questions were answered on a 5 point Likert scale, with lower numbers indicating stronger agreement with the item. Survey Respondents and Procedures The survey was offered to all adult patients who visited any of four public dental centers throughout Kuwait during a two week peri- od in July, 2001, and to dentists who were employed in those cen- ters. The receptionists offered the survey together with a cover let- ter to the first 400 adult patients who checked into the centers dur- ing the period. The dentist survey was placed in the mailboxes at the clinics of the ninety dentists employed there, with a collection box for the returned surveys. Statistical analysis Factor analysis was used to identify how the items naturally grouped together. Scales were formed according to the identified factors. Patients and dentists were compared on each scale. Results The response rate for patients was 78% (312 of 400) and 80% for the dentists (72 of 90). Of the 312 patient questionnaires, 18 sub- jects answered fewer than 10 items, and were removed from the study, leaving 294 complete patient questionnaires (74% of the original sample). Missing data for the remaining questionnaires were replaced by the median scores of the other respondents of the same dentist-patient status, sex and age. Factor analysis was performed, resulting in over 20 factors with Eigen values of over 1. The first ten factors were considered for this analysis. (See Table 2) Scaled scores were formed from each factor, using items that loaded on each factor greater than or equal to .490. Since on one item, no items loaded above .490, it was dis- carded, leaving nine scales. The scales were formed by adding the Likert values for each item associated with the factor, so that higher scores indicated more disagreement with the scale and lower scores indicated stronger agreement with the scale. The factor scores were converted to 100-point scales by dividing the summed Likert scales by the number of items and multiplying by 100. Chronbach?s intra- scale reliabilities were performed for each scale. The authors chose labels for each of the factors based on their content. In order to compare dentists and patients, logistic regressions were performed on each of the nine scales, after collapsing the scales into binary variables above and below the medians. Dentist versus patient status was entered as an independent variable, as were age and sex. If the dentist-patient variable was significant in the regres- sion after sex and age were entered, that scale was deemed to reveal differences between patients and dentists. Younger persons were more likely to endorse Scales 3 (p<.001) and 8 (p<.004), and women were less likely to endorse Scale 4 (p<.000), and more like- ly to endorse Scales 6 (p=.046), and 7 (p<.000). Kuwaiti dentists and patients were in agreement that the ideal den- tist should be empathic and personal, have no odors, touch only when necessary, and be affordable and competent. Both patients and dentists averaged neutral scores on Scale 4, Convenience and Touching Acceptable. Both agreed on the importance of practicing to standard of care. Dentists were more willing to consider it ideal to blame patients for the condition of their teeth, but less likely to consider toughness as ideal. Kuwaiti patients were considerably more likely to perceive maleness, specialization, experience and pain control as qualities of the ideal dentist than were Kuwaiti den- tists. Additionally, the patients were more concerned with the pos- sibility of over-treatment than the dentists (included in Scale 1). Discussion More often than not, Kuwaiti dentists and patients agreed on the qualities of an ideal dentist. However, Kuwaiti patients preferred male dentists over female dentists. Speculatively, this may be relat- ed to the male dominance in dentistry in Kuwait, or to the differ- ences in the status and role of women in Kuwait. Furthermore, this preference may have changed since this data were collected. Patient preferences concerning dentists? sex are not reported in European and American studies, and were not reported in a simi- Mean (SD) 25(12) 57(12) 71(20) 68(24) 29(13) 57(14) 29(18) 33(22) 28(16) Median 22 54 75 70 26 55 20 20 20 Median 23 31 60 60 26 60 20 20 20 Sig.* .047 .000 .000 .004 .770 .964 .335 .579 .228 Scale 1? Standard Dental Practice Scale 2? Skillful/Careful Male Scale 5? Toughness Scale 8? No Blame Scale 2? Empathic and Personal Scale 4? Convenience and Touching Acceptable Scale 6? No Odors Scale 7? No Touching Scale 9? Competent and Affordable Mean (SD) 27(10) 33(10) 58(23) 62(28) 31(13) 60(20) 29(17) 34(21) 26(14) Dentists n=72 Patients n=294 20-30=Strongly Agree, 31-50=Agree, 51-69=Neutral, 70-89=Disagree, 90-100=Strongly Disagree. *Significance was tested in nine logistic regressions of dentist-patient status, sex and age on each scale, collapsed into binary variables at the median. Table 2. Comparison of Kuwaiti dentists? and patients? responses on nine scales characterizing the ideal dentist, controlling for age and sex. 14 How patients view their dentist: EXPECTATIONS AND PREFERENCES www.sirona.com CAD/CAM SYSTEMS I INSTRUMENTS I HYGIENE SYSTEMS I TREATMENT CENTERS I IMAGING SYSTEMS B-448-76-V1 CEREC MEETS GALILEOS Have you ever used CEREC for an implant? Conservative dentistry and prosthetics have played a major role in the development of your practice. Imagine expanding this success strategy to implant planning and surgery. GALILEOS opens the door to a new world of 3D diagnostics and, combining data from CEREC and GALILEOS, allows simultaneous surgical and prosthetic planning of implants. Implant surgery is now faster and safer than ever: improved risk management, increased therapy proposal acceptance and optimized results ? for satis? ed patients and enhanced practice success. Enjoy every day. With Sirona. 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