Patient expectations and treatment outcomes in dentistry: A questionnaire-based study

Mismatch between patient expectations and perceived treatment outcomes remain a significant challenge affecting satisfaction and service utilization in government dental healthcare settings. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate patient expectations before treatment and corresponding perceived outcomes after treatment at a government dental facility. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among 400 patients using validated Likert-scale instruments assessing domains such as pain management, functional restoration, esthetics, communication and facility experience. While pain management showed the highest expectation and satisfactory outcomes, significant gaps were observed in facility experience and waiting time, with only 43.5% of patients reporting outcomes meeting or exceeding expectations. Thus, we show the need to improve non-clinical service aspects alongside clinical care to enhance overall patient satisfaction and healthcare delivery.