Parental satisfaction with children's primary dental care in Valencia, Spain

To evaluate parents' satisfaction with the dental care that their children received in a primary dental care unit in Valencia, Spain.

A cross-sectional study was designed. Parents were given a self-administered questionnaire with questions on accessibility, information received from the dentist and hygienist, staff interest in their child, dentist's and hygienist's apparent professional competence, handling of the child's behaviour, cleanliness of the office (surgery), overall parent satisfaction, parent's and child's age, and parental educational level. The chi-square test was used to assess overall parental satisfaction and the other study variables. For the multivariant study, CHAID (CHi-square Automatic Interaction Detection) analysis was used.

Out of a possible 400 respondents, 389 completed the questionnaire, of whom 384 completed it in full. The variables significantly associated with overall parental satisfaction were waiting time before the consultation, cleanliness of the surgery, the manner in which appointments were made, staff attitude with regard to helping, listening and understanding, the dentist's and hygienist's professionalism, handling of the child's behaviour, and information given by the dentist and hygienist. In logistic regression, the aspects that significantly explained parental satisfaction were the professionals' apparent competence, the information given by the dentist, staff interest in their child, and the handling of the child's behaviour.

The parents who took part in this study were satisfied with the care that their children received, mainly with aspects related to professional competence and information provided.