Authors: Benard Matofari, Ferdinand Mabula Machibya, Matilda Mtaya-Mlangwa, Emil Namakuka Kikwilu.
Background: The success of an oral health service can be assessed by the degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction of its patients. In Tanzania, patients’ satisfaction with dental services has received only minor attention.
Objectives: To assess patient satisfaction with dental care among patients at Mnazi-Mmoja Dental clinic.
Methodology: A cross sectional study conducted at Mnazi-mmoja dental clinic for two months to determine patients’ satisfaction with dental services offered at Mnazi-mmoja dental clinic. A total of 145 patients of different sex were the subjects during the time of study. The study included all the patients attended at Mnazi-mmoja dental clinic during the time of data collection who were aged from 18 to 65 years.
Results: There were more female respondents than male (53.1% versus 46.9%) and majority (62.1%) of the respondents were young adults (between 18 and 35 years). Most (93.4%) respondents showed overall satisfaction with service offered. The level of education influenced the participants satisfaction, showing higher satisfactions among patients with primary educations and those without formal education while low satisfaction was among participants with secondary or higher-level education (96.3% and 51.6% respectively) (p ≤ 0.05). The rest of social-demographic characteristics did not significantly influence patients’ satisfaction.
Conclusion: Patients were highly satisfied with dental services offered at Mnazi-mmoja Hospital. In addition, social-demographic factors were not associated with patients’ satisfaction except level of education.
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