Comparative study of satisfaction of users and health professionals with the public dental service

The objective was to confront the view of users and health professionals about the satisfaction with the public dental service. Interviews were conducted with users, professionals considered directly (ESB) and indirectly (ACS) involved in oral health. Variables were evaluated individually and grouped into domains. A score was created for the analysis and the Kruskal-Wallis test was applied. The respondents positively assessed the quality of the dental services. The ACS demonstrated less satisfaction compared to users regarding general satisfaction in the Physical Structure and Medical Care domains and the variables: quality of clinical care; guidance to the patient after treatment performed in the specialty; and period of dental care. The ESB professionals expressed greater satisfaction than the users in the Medical Care domain and in the variables related to the provision of guidance, answering questions, attention solvability and consultation scheduling. It is concluded that the ESB professionals demonstrated a high degree of similarity to the satisfaction displayed by users, although positively expanded, and the ACS expressed more critically discrepant opinions in relation to users.