The factors which influence patients in their choice of a dental care office has recently become more complex. Our objective was to assess the correlations between different key factors (demographic aspects, dentists' professionalism, factors related to dental care offices) that influence the selection of a particular dental care office by adult patients. An online questionnaire (self-administered survey) was applied to a random sample of 117 adult dental patients in private clinics in Bucharest, Romania. The survey consisted of 12 questions, and it was conducted during a 2-week period. All the collected data were subjected to statistical analysis. The obtained results revealed statistically significant correlations between studied factors, i.e., elderly patients compared to younger patients considered the use of the state-of-the-art medical devices was important for the dental office (p=0.043, R=0.187). In comparison to women, male patients were searching more often information regarding the dental offices on social media (p=0.002, R=0.284); patients that attached more importance to the dentist's professional degree were the ones that attached more importance to its reputation (p<0.001, R=0.381) and to the dental office location (p=0.022, R=0.211). The results highlighted specific patterns in patients' perception of factors related to the selection of dental offices, as also found in scientific literature. The present study offers a perspective on how to improve dental care and patients' oral health.
Keywords: dental office; medical and external factors; patient choice.