Factors Affecting Patients' Selection of an Orthodontic Practice

Objectives:

To determine the relative importance placed upon different factors for selection of an orthodontic practice by prospective patients.

Methods:

In previous studies, a patient questionnaire was developed and determined to be both valid and reliable. Two surveys were developed: one for adult patients and one for parents of adolescent patients.

Questionnaires were mailed to participating orthodontics offices where they were made available to prospective adult patients, and the parents of prospective adolescent patients, on their first visit to that office.   Subjects returned completed surveys directly to the investigators.

Data were analyzed by a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey-Kramer procedure. 

Results:

In total, 209 surveys were received:  66 from adult patients and 143 from parents of adolescent patients.  For each survey, the 3 most-, and the 3 least important factors were each statistically different from the median factor (P < 0.0001).

The most important factors for adult patients:

• Having a doctor who gives thorough explanations
• Having an office that is clean
• Having a doctor who makes you feel comfortable

The least important factors for adult patients:

• The doctor’s religious beliefs
• The gender of the doctor
• The doctor’s ethnic background

The most important factors for parents of adolescent patients:

• Having a doctor that makes you feel comfortable
• Having a doctor who gives thorough explanations
• Having a doctor with a caring attitude

The least important factors for parents of adolescent patients:

• The doctor’s ethnic background
• Having an office that has parties for patients (movies/pool parties)
• The gender of the doctor

Conclusions:

For both adult patients and parents of adolescent patients, it is most important to have an office in which they are made to feel comfortable, well informed, and with a caring doctor.  The ethnic, religious, and gender background of the doctor were relatively unimportant.