ABSTRACT Objective:

To determine the satisfaction with the dentist-patient interaction and factors associated with patient satisfaction among patients attending the outpatient dental clinic Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM).

Material and Methods:

This cross-sectional study involved 229 patients who attended outpatient dental clinic Hospital USM that located in the East Coast region of Malaysia. A self-administered Skala Kepuasan Interaksi Perubatan - 11 (SKIP-11) questionnaire was used to assess the satisfaction towards dentist-patient interaction. Systematic random sampling was applied in this study. The data were analyzed using simple logistic regression analysis to determine the factors associated with patient satisfaction with dentist-patient interaction.

Results:

The mean age of patients was 32.6 ± 13.9 years, 71.6% of them study up to tertiary level, 31.5% came to for dental check up and 23.6% of them had tooth decay. More than half (64.6%) of the patients were satisfactory with dentist-patient interaction. The satisfaction percentage in the distress relief domain was 60.7%, 56.8% in the rapport domain, and 53.7% in the interaction outcome domain. Satisfaction with dentist-patient interaction was significantly associated with the dentists' characteristics such as age (OR = 0.583, 95%CI 0.44-0.76, p=0.001), gender (OR = 0.386, 95% CI 0.22-0.69, p=0.001) and years of service (OR = 0.294, 95% CI 0.15-0.57, p=0.001).

Conclusion:

The result showed that slightly more than half of the patients who attended the outpatient dental clinic HUSM were satisfied with the dentist-patient interaction, which was found to be influenced by the characteristics of the dentists. Efforts to improve patient-dentist interaction are recommended to ensure delivery of good quality oral health care.