{"title":"Patient considerations for orthodontists: A comparative study of university students in Malaysia and Taiwan","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jds.2024.07.003","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background/purpose</h3><p>Patients' considerations when choosing an orthodontist are influenced by many factors, including background, ethnicity, and location. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify factors influencing patients’ considerations when selecting an orthodontist in both Malaysia and Taiwan.</p></div><div><h3>Materials and methods</h3><p>In total, 248 dental students from Taipei Medical University and 110 dental students from Manipal University College Malaysia were selected for this study. Participants' considerations when selecting an orthodontist were assessed using a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire collected data regarding participants’ demographic characteristics and their preferences regarding clinical settings, orthodontist attributes, administrative systems, and the influence of social media. The gathered data were analyzed and compared using independent <em>t</em>-test, ANOVA, and chi-squared for both cohorts.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>The present results revealed significant differences between the Malaysian and Taiwanese participants with several variables, including orthodontist experience, recommendations, pain-free treatment procedures, treatment duration, friendly reception, sources of information about orthodontists, and preferred social media platforms. Notably, among the Taiwanese participants, “person responsible for treatment costs,” was significantly correlated with the orthodontist's age, the orthodontist's work experience, information sources, travel distance, and content posted by orthodontists on social media. By contrast, among the Malaysian participants, this variable was correlated with the work experience of orthodontists.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><p>Significant differences were observed between the Malaysian and Taiwanese participants in terms of their considerations when choosing an orthodontist. Participant's gender significantly influenced orthodontist preferences among the Malaysian participants, whereas the individual responsible for treatment costs was identified to be the most crucial factor influencing the Taiwanese participants.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15583,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Dental Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S199179022400223X/pdfft?md5=11b5c03d7804181890008892fa92f9ae&pid=1-s2.0-S199179022400223X-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Dental Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S199179022400223X","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DENTISTRY, ORAL SURGERY & MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background/purpose
Patients' considerations when choosing an orthodontist are influenced by many factors, including background, ethnicity, and location. Accordingly, this study aimed to identify factors influencing patients’ considerations when selecting an orthodontist in both Malaysia and Taiwan.
Materials and methods
In total, 248 dental students from Taipei Medical University and 110 dental students from Manipal University College Malaysia were selected for this study. Participants' considerations when selecting an orthodontist were assessed using a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire collected data regarding participants’ demographic characteristics and their preferences regarding clinical settings, orthodontist attributes, administrative systems, and the influence of social media. The gathered data were analyzed and compared using independent t-test, ANOVA, and chi-squared for both cohorts.
Results
The present results revealed significant differences between the Malaysian and Taiwanese participants with several variables, including orthodontist experience, recommendations, pain-free treatment procedures, treatment duration, friendly reception, sources of information about orthodontists, and preferred social media platforms. Notably, among the Taiwanese participants, “person responsible for treatment costs,” was significantly correlated with the orthodontist's age, the orthodontist's work experience, information sources, travel distance, and content posted by orthodontists on social media. By contrast, among the Malaysian participants, this variable was correlated with the work experience of orthodontists.
Conclusion
Significant differences were observed between the Malaysian and Taiwanese participants in terms of their considerations when choosing an orthodontist. Participant's gender significantly influenced orthodontist preferences among the Malaysian participants, whereas the individual responsible for treatment costs was identified to be the most crucial factor influencing the Taiwanese participants.
期刊介绍:
he Journal of Dental Sciences (JDS), published quarterly, is the official and open access publication of the Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China (ADS-ROC). The precedent journal of the JDS is the Chinese Dental Journal (CDJ) which had already been covered by MEDLINE in 1988. As the CDJ continued to prove its importance in the region, the ADS-ROC decided to move to the international community by publishing an English journal. Hence, the birth of the JDS in 2006. The JDS is indexed in the SCI Expanded since 2008. It is also indexed in Scopus, and EMCare, ScienceDirect, SIIC Data Bases.
The topics covered by the JDS include all fields of basic and clinical dentistry. Some manuscripts focusing on the study of certain endemic diseases such as dental caries and periodontal diseases in particular regions of any country as well as oral pre-cancers, oral cancers, and oral submucous fibrosis related to betel nut chewing habit are also considered for publication. Besides, the JDS also publishes articles about the efficacy of a new treatment modality on oral verrucous hyperplasia or early oral squamous cell carcinoma.