| Title |
Weak Evidence Indicates That Anxious Patients Prefer A Male Dentist To A Female Dentist |
| Clinical Question |
Do patients with dental anxiety prefer a female dentist over a male dentist? |
| Clinical Bottom Line |
Dental patients who label themselves as anxious report that they prefer a male dentist over a female dentist. (See Comments on the CAT below) |
| Best Evidence |
|
| PubMed ID |
Author / Year |
Patient Group |
Study type
(level of evidence) |
| 15520236 | Bare/2004 | 121 male (27 percent) and female (73 percent) undergraduate students and faculty, 50% (61) of which reported some degree of dental anxiety | Patient survey | | Key results | Of those surveyed who reported having dental anxiety, 8% (5) reported preferring a female dentist, while 77% (47) reported preferring a male dentist. | |
| Evidence Search |
"Dental anxiety"[MeSH] AND patient preferences |
Comments on
The Evidence |
This evidence this article presented is relatively low quality. The data was obtained solely from subjective self-reports on a paper survey. The questionnaire was created by a dental student and was only tested for clarity on two other students and two faculty members. |
| Applicability |
Though this evidence is weak, it does suggest that anxious patients may prefer a male dentist. This is something I could use in my practice on my patients as, being female, I may want to spend a little extra time and effort reassuring my anxious patients. |
| Specialty |
(General Dentistry) (Behavioral Science) |
| Keywords |
dental anxiety, patient preferences
|
| ID# |
532 |
| Date of submission |
03/26/2010 |
| E-mail |
samuelsen@livemail.uthscsa.edu |
| Author |
Laura Samuelsen |
| Co-author(s) |
|
| Co-author(s) e-mail |
|
| Faculty mentor |
John P. Hatch, PhD |
| Faculty mentor e-mail |
hatch@uthscsa.edu |
| |
|
Basic Science Rationale
(Mechanisms that may account for and/or explain the clinical question, i.e. is the answer to the clinical question consistent with basic biological, physical and/or behavioral science principles, laws and research?) |
| None available | |
 |
Comments and Evidence-Based Updates on the CAT
(FOR PRACTICING DENTISTS', FACULTY, RESIDENTS and/or STUDENTS COMMENTS ON PUBLISHED CATs) |
by Brian Hutchings (San Antonio, TX) on 04/16/2012
I completed a PubMed search on April 2012 for this topic. The publication currently listed under the CAT is the most recent and of the highest level of evidence available. | |