Patients' satisfaction with dental care provided by public dental clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND

In Tanzania, patient satisfaction with dental services has received only minor attention.

OBJECTIVE

To assess patients' satisfaction with public dental health services in Dar es Salaam.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Five public dental clinics randomly selected from a list of all the nine public dental clinics in Dar es Salaam.

SUBJECTS

Five hundred and sixteen consecutive patients, 193 males and 323 females aged between 12 and 77 years who, during the study period between July and November, 2002 were attending five dental clinics were randomly selected.

RESULTS

No significant differences in patients' satisfaction level (overall or for the specific studied items) were found in all the five public dental clinics. The answers to the specific sub-items, apart from time spent with doctor, were around the average with very few responses with a high ranking.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate a moderate level of patient satisfaction with dental care offered in public dental clinics in Dar es Salaam. Areas identified as needing improvement included; technical quality of care, interpersonal aspects and communication.