September 2020 Vol. 8 No.9

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Original Research Article

Effect of Dentists’ Attire on Patient Preferences for Treatment and Diagnosis in Urban Settings of Karachi, Pakistan

Narjis Fatima Hussain^1*, Sonia Sameen², Qaiser Ali Baig³

¹Graduate Student, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, USA (First Author)
²Senior Research Assistant, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan (First Author)
³Vice-Principal, DOW International Dental College under DOW University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan (Supervisor)

*Corresponding Author's E-mail: narjisfatimahussain@uky.edu
Telephone: +1 (859) 913-1341

Received: 20 August 2020  I  Accepted: 07 September 2020  I  Published: 27 September 2020  I  Article ID: MRJMMS-20-132
Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.
This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0.

Abstract

A practitioner's attire can influence patients' confidence and trust in a dentist – it lays the foundation for the physician-patient relationship. This study aimed to understand the effect of a dentist's attire on patient's preferences for diagnosis and treatment in the urban settings of Karachi, Pakistan. 450 participants were provided with an interview-based questionnaire designed to evaluate patients' inclination towards choosing a dental practitioner for diagnosis and treatment after reviewing 2 sets of 6 pictures of a male and female dentist – all the pictures were the same except for the dentists' attire. The attire choices ranged from professional, surgical, traditional, western, religious, and casual. As per the results, 47.6% of the participants preferred a professionally dressed dentist (white coat) for their diagnosis, while there was an almost equal predilection for surgical scrubs (40.6%) and professional attire (39.7%) for treatment purposes. Overall, casual dressing was the least preferred option. Furthermore, for gender preference, males and females preferred practitioners from their own genders. Hence, it was concluded that the popularity of a professional white coat and surgical scrubs reflected the patients’ opinions and preferences and have an important implication for setting dress codes in different healthcare settings.

Keywords: Dentist, Dentist Attire, Diagnosis, Patient Preference, Treatment