Salwa A Alsadhan.
Patients attitude towards the dentists appearance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Pak Dent Assoc Jan ;15(3):127-33.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess patients` attitudes towards the dentists` appearance in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was developed in Arabic and was distributed among patients attending private, governmental and dental school clinics in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: Nearly 60% of the patients highly preferred female dentists to wear a white coat and 48.8% highly preferred her to wear a name tag. About two third of the respondents stated that they highly preferred male dentists to wear a white coat and 56.4% highly preferred a name tag to be worn. Over 73% of the surveyed sample preferred or highly preferred both male and female dentists to have nice teeth. Long finger nails were not preferred at all for female dentists by two thirds of the respondents whereas about three quarters did not prefer it at all for male dentists. Using Chi-square, it was found that the oldest age group were less concerned with the dentist use of a name tag and of having long finger nails compared to the other age groups.. Female patients preferred their dentist to wear a white coat and to have nice teeth more than the male patients. The level of education of the respondents was directly related to the preference for the dentist to wear a white coat, and name tag, and was inversely related to the preference for the dentist to have long finger nails. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the white coat and name tag are considered the most favorable attire and that they remain a powerful symbol for the dentist. It was also found that nice teeth are a desirable character for both male and female dentists. Long finger nails were unfavorable characters. For male dentists long hair was unfavorable and wearing a head cover was favored for female dentists.

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