Public image of dentists and dental visits in Finland

The public image of dentists and dental visits were surveyed in 1980 by interviewing a national sample of 648 Finns 15-50 years. 67 persons who reported having last visited a dentist more than 5 years ago were excluded from this report. 55% of the interviewees had visited the same dentists earlier, 69% of these had been seeing the same dentist for more than 3 years. The last dentist visited was characterized on three dimensions: technical competence, personality and organization of the surgery. This characterization demonstrated the importance of personal and professional characteristics of the dentists. The intervieews expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the last dentist visited. 28% of the variance in satisfaction experienced was explained in multiple regression analysis. The dental visit was considered important but unpleasant by the interviewees. The principle of free choice of dentist was important to the vast majority of interviewees. It seems that the process of forming the dentist's image is so complex that the dental profession should be comprehensively taught interpersonal skills.