Dental satisfaction survey at an expeditionary dental clinic in support of operations enduring freedom and Iraqi freedom

Abstract

This study used a survey to gather information about soldiers' perceptions of the quality of dental treatment delivered at a deployed clinic. An ordinal scale of 1 through 5 scored access, dental facility and equipment, pain control, technical skill, and interpersonal skills of the provider. Four additional items identified whether the respondent was new to military or deployment dentistry, was in pain before arriving at the clinic, or had any concerns about being treated at a deployed dental clinic. Percentages for each type of response were recorded. Data were further analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test to investigate the relationship between respondent variables and how they rated the attributes of quality. Deployed service members reported a high degree of satisfaction with the quality of care they received. Ninety-seven percent of respondents believed that the care they received was as good as the care they would have received at their regular stateside military dental facility.