[Users satisfaction with dental care services provided at IMSS].

OBJECTIVE

To determine users' satisfaction with dental care services provided at Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Veracruz.

METHODOLOGY

An epidemiological survey was conducted in 14 family medicine clinics located in the northern part of the state of Veracruz. The clinics were selected by stratified-random sampling. All users older than 20 years seeking medical or dental care services were interviewed; previously, their informed consent was obtained. We used the 6-items United Kingdom dental care satisfaction questionnaire (Spanish version) where question number four evaluates user satisfaction.

RESULTS

From October to December 2005, 3601 users were interviewed. We excluded 279 questionnaires because the age of the interviewees was <20 years. The final analysis included 3322 interviews (92%); 73% were female with an average age of 45 +/- 16 years old. 82% were satisfied with dental care services and 91% never felt like making a complaint. Waiting time of less than 30 minutes and last visit to the dentist in the last year were the only variables related to satisfaction (p = 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

There is a high level of satisfaction regarding dental care services among Mexican Institute of Social Security users. However, it would be possible to increase the level of satisfaction if the waiting time is reduced and the number of dental care users attending twice a year increases.