Int J Med Health Sci. April 2017,Vol-6;Issue-2 111 International Journal of Medical and Health Sciences Journal Home Page: http://www.ijmhs.net ISSN:2277-4505 Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction in Oral And Dental Health Centers Huseyin Topcuoglu 1 , Aygul Yanik 2* 1 Dentist, Kirklareli Mouth and Dental Health Center, Kirklareli, Turkey, 2 Associate Professor, Department of Health Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey. ABSTRACT Introduction: The study was conducted in order to determine patient satisfaction in Oral and Dental Health Centers (ODHC) and to investigate the effects of sociodemographic variables on patient satisfaction. Materials and Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with patients who administered to the ODHC’s which were affiliated with the Turkish Ministry of Health and which were located in the Kirklareli. Using the random sampling method, 320 patients were selected and the patients were informed about the purpose of the study. The questionnaire was applied to patients who accepted to participate in the study. A total of 300 patients who answered the questionnaire were evaluated. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS for Windows 16.0 software package. Results: Patients were found to be highly satisfied with services; complaint about the service was low and dissatisfaction with the physical environment was at medium levels. Patient satisfaction factors showed significant differences according to gender, education, employment status, type of social security, cost of dental treatment, reasons for choosing the ODHC, re-administration, and recommending. It was determined that men were satisfied with more services compared to women. It was found that university graduates were more complained about services. It was showed that women and young patients were more scared of dental treatment compared to men and elderly patients. Conclusion: It was determined that patient satisfaction in ODHC’s is affected by sociodemographic variables. The study will contribute to health managers’ efforts to promote patient satisfaction and improve services in ODHC’s. KEYWORDS: Dental Centers; Dentists; Patient Satisfaction; Services INTRODUCTION Patient satisfaction is an important component of dental care. Patient satisfaction is an individual patient’s appraisal of the extent to which the care provided has met his/her expectations and preferences [1]. It influences patients’ compliance, their use of dental services, and their anxiety, and it is also associated with health outcomes and health status [2]. Patient satisfaction with health services is therefore a proxy measure of organizational performance, and its use has been recommended for evaluating the quality of care. Dental clinics with a high patient satisfaction score, for example, have been shown to have high credibility [1]. Patient satisfaction is a multidimensional concept. Dimensions of dental care satisfaction that have been identified are [3]. Technical or aspects of care related to the process of diagnosis and treatment, interpersonal, accessibility/availability, financial access, efficacy/outcomes, continuity of care, facilities, general attitudes about overall care. At first, patient satisfaction studies were carried out through these dimensions. Recently, part of the patient satisfaction studies analyzed the realization of expectations by comparing patients' views upon the ideal and actual behaviors of dentists. Ideal behavior equals desired service. The difference between dentists' ideal and actual behavior is mostly felt in the communication and information industries; e.g. dentists' frequent holding out on preventive procedures, not washing of hands and the procedures being too hard [4]. The majority of adults have stated that their first dental source of information was dentists and it is very important to have information in preventing caries [5]. Also, decent practices were presented by patients according to these criteria: explanation of procedures, sterilization/hygiene, dental skills (the highest) and by dentists; up-to-dateness of equipment, pleasant decoration, a decent practice image (the Original article