Practice success is defined across the four ‘dimensions’ of oral health, patient satisfaction, job satisfaction and financial profit. It is suggested that the ‘secret’ of success in dental practice is to make patient (customer) satisfaction the primary focus. Not a very earth shattering or surprising ‘secret’ perhaps! This is hardly a new idea, and not a concept restricted to dental practice. This principle applies to all businesses. This series of articles reviews evidence from across a broad spectrum of publications: from populist business publications through to refereed scientific papers, this ‘secret’ seems to be confirmed. The evidence for which aspects of our service are most important in achieving patient satisfaction (and therefore success) is explored.
Clinical Relevance: Good oral health outcomes for patients are defined as the primary purpose of dental practice and, therefore, an essential dimension of success. The link between positive patient perceptions of general care and their own oral health to practice success is explored.
Article
As discussed in article 1, the primary purpose of dental practice is to support patients in achieving optimal oral health.
The Department of Health in England,1 in 2005, defined oral health as:
‘A standard of health of the oral and related tissues, which enables an individual to eat, speak and socialise without active disease, discomfort or embarrassment and which contributes to general well-being’.
This definition clarifies the importance of favourable patient self perception (or ‘patient satisfaction’ with their oral health) in achieving good oral health. Who, other than the patient, could determine his/her ability to eat, speak and socialize without discomfort or embarrassment? So, in the very definition of oral health, we are once more seeing confirmation that the fundamental ‘secret of success’ is patient satisfaction.
Locker2 was critical of the predominantly clinical focus in assessing oral health. He made a strong case to move towards measurements of impairment, disability and handicap caused by oral disease. Ultimately, the patient will be the best judge of these impacts. This paper seemed to ‘set the scene’ for Slade and Spencer's work in 1994. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), with 49 questions across seven dimensions, was designed by Slade and Spencer.3 It is essentially a questionnaire designed to be used to measure patient perceptions of impact of oral health issues on their lives. They compiled the original questionnaire from interviews with 64 patients from Adelaide, South Australia. The 64 subjects were deliberately selected to have experienced a range of oral diseases with consequent social impact. Initially, this group of patients made a total of 535 statements, using their own words, about the consequences of oral disorders. The original 535 statements were collated into these seven dimensions drawn from a model proposed by Locker in his conceptual paper referred to in Table 1.2
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