From Patient Experience to Dental Service Return Visits: A Narrative Review of Strategies for Improving Dental Care Services

Abstract

Patient experience in dental care is shaped by multiple factors throughout the treatment journey, including emotional, communicational, and environmental elements. This narrative review explores how fear, lack of trust, and poor communication can negatively affect patients’ willingness to seek or continue dental care, ultimately influencing access and return visits. A focused literature search was conducted using PubMed and Scopus to identify studies examining the relationship between patient experience and dental service utilization, and findings were thematically synthesized across 3 phases of the patient journey: before, during, and after the dental visit. Interpretation was guided by Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Services Use, which situates healthcare utilization within predisposing, enabling, and need-related factors. Influential elements included effective communication, transparent payment and follow-up systems, streamlined appointment scheduling, a welcoming reception, and a clean, comfortable treatment environment. These experiences were consistently associated with greater trust, comfort, and satisfaction, which in turn increased the likelihood of return visits. Strengthening patient experience across the care pathway may improve long-term engagement with dental services, even among patients whose first visit occurs under urgent or emergency circumstances.