Reputation of Dutch dentists

Objectives: In society the task of dentists is to render dental care. In order to investigate the public's view on how dentists fulfill this task, research was conducted. This involved in particular the reputation of dentists, viz. a general evaluation by the public of the assumed competences and responsibilities of dentists.

Methods: In February 2007 a panel of 2.171 adult residents in the Netherlands was asked to participate in a web survey, 1.362 (63%) of whom responded. Data was collected on certain personal characteristics (gender, age, education and income), dental health and dental behaviour. To be able to measure the reputation an instrument was used based on the so-called Reputation Quotient (Fombrun & Van Riel, 2004). Twenty quotes (Likert type) were formulated with regard to six underlying dimensions of reputation: emotional appeal, products and services, vision and leadership, workplace environment, social responsibility and financial performance. The combined Likert scores for these six dimensions give an overall score for the reputation of dentists (Crohnbach's Alpha = 0.92). The data was analysed using SPSS.

Results: On a scale from 1 to 10 the public rates the overall reputation of dentists with a 7.6. On the dimensions emotional appeal, products and services and workplace environment the reputation of dentists scores rather favourable, on the dimension financial performance somewhat less. Furthermore, the overall reputation is better as people are older (p < 0.05) and as they show greater dental awareness in the way they think and act (p<0.05). Gender, education and regional spread do not show any cohesion.

Conclusion: Via the web survey the Dutch Dental Association (NMT) obtained a differentiated impression of the reputation of dentists amongst the greater public. This may be to the advantage of their public relations policies.