Internet And Dentist-Patient Relationship: Patients’ Perceptions And Practices

Abstract

The Internet has affected all aspects of life including health related issues. People are accessing the Internet for their health information needs. Internet access for health information by people may change their health seeking behavior and relationships with their physicians.  To determine the use of the Internet by patients attending a range of dental clinics to search for information regarding dental procedures. The current study is an expost facto survey design. A questionnaire with 10 items was constructed to elicit information about patient demographics, Internet access, name of sites used, quality of information obtained, whether they would use the Internet again to source health information. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study, which including 300 patients who use internet from a Dental Hospital. The mean age of the participants was 35.8 years with 36.2 male and 35.4 years female individuals. Completed questionnaires were coded; data were recorded in a standard proforma and analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics. The study found that majority of patients was familiar with using the Internet, and more than one in three participants searched their presenting dental/oral condition . Majority of patients surveyed the Internet to plan appointments for dental treatment. A large proportion of patients used Internet to seek medical information, significantly more urban patients compared to rural patients. The implication of this is that dentists have to cope up dealing with patients empowered by online health information.