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When you ask patients, they say it’s because of the cost. We ask whether patient dissatisfaction is an overlooked reason why patients avoid visiting their dentist.

1 in 4 of us is not visiting the dentist

The recent 2009 Annual Dental Survey by Simplyhealth (previously known as HSA) is eye-opening when it comes to how many people skip seeing the dentist altogether. 13% of people don’t have a dentist – a figure which rises to 20% of those aged 16-24. And a whopping 25% of those surveyed has not been to the dentist in the last year. 14% had not visited the dentist in the last 5 years.

Patients are increasingly put off by the cost

The most interesting statistic in the survey is the massive increase in patients who say that they have been put off visiting the dentist due to cost. This rose from an understandable 19% in 2008 to a huge 43% in 2009. No doubt this is linked to the increase in people saying they have found difficulties finding an NHS dentist (35% in 2009 compared with 23% in 2008), but the increase is surprisingly large. This suggests that the recession is really affecting willingness to pay for dental services, and may also be affecting how often people visit.

What’s the role of patient dissatisfaction?

It’s surprising (to us here at PatientPulse, anyway) how little proper research there seems to be on why so many patients don’t go to a dentist regularly.

From the research that does exist, apathy and complacency seem like big reasons, rather than cost. However, based on the Simplyhealth survey, cost might be emerging as a bigger factor.

There’s not a lot of reference in the research to patient dissatisfaction with previous treatment as a reason for not consulting a dentist. However numerous anecdotes suggest that bad experiences – anything from a painful treatment to an unsympathetic dentist – can put patients off for life. We think dissatisfaction deserves more investigation as a reason why patients stay away.

In her 2002 book, “Dental Hygiene: The Pulse of the Practice”, Cynthia McKane-Wagester cites a US study in which 60% of patients queried about their experience cited the dental team’s indifference (or perceived indifference) as the main reason for leaving a dental practice. According to her research, the average dental practice was experiencing a 50% patient turnover every 5 years, and 50% of this turnover was attributed to patient dissatisfaction.

Incidentally, academic research in more recent years in the UK has suggested that patients who use dental therapists and hygienists are significantly more satisfied than those who just use dentists.

This is just to scratch the surface, and is clearly not a scientific review of the evidence, but we believe dissatisfaction is likely to be much more important as a factor than patients freely admit. When surveyed, patients may cite costs as a reason, but dissatisfaction combined with complacency and apathy is likely to be a silent contributor to worrying levels of dentist avoidance.