Criteria of good dental practice generated by general dental practitioners and patients.

A survey was carried out asking patients to evaluate the criteria of good dental practice proposed by patients and dentists. A total of 344 patients from 4 different general dental practices in South East England evaluated 16 criteria of good dental practice. Eight criteria were generated by 30 general dental practitioners and the other eight by 30 patients. Questionnaires containing the 8 pairs of criteria randomly assigned by a computer were drawn up, with each pair containing one patient and one general dental practitioner criterion. Patients were asked to indicate their preference. The number of times each criterion was preferred was scored and ranked. The three highest ranked criteria were explanation of procedures, sterilisation/hygiene and dentist's skills (all criteria proposed from patients), whilst the three lowest ranked criteria were up-to-date equipment, pleasant decor and surroundings and good practice image (all criteria proposed from dentists). Overall the criteria proposed by patients as a group scored significantly more highly than those proposed by dentists as a group. There was variation in rankings relating to the sex, age, pattern of attendance and social class of the respondents.