Attitudes and perceptions towards the dentist’s appearance: A study among some Nigerian children and parents

Background: Research has shown that different kinds of doctor’s attire may evoke different reactions in patients particularly in children. By understanding patients and parents’ perception and preferences about dentist’s attire, the choice of appropriate attire can be adopted in order to establish good rapport with patients. The aim of the study was to assess the perception of some Nigerian children and parents to the appearance of dentists. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 259 children aged 5 to 15 years attending the Paediatric Dentistry clinic of the University College Hospital, Ibadan and their parents. Data was collected using a pretested 25- item child questionnaire and 20- item parent questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Z test of proportion and Chi square test. Results: Majority of the children (60.2%) preferred to be treated by female dentists while most parents (70.3%) were indifferent. Female children preferred a female dentist while males preferred a male dentist (p=0.000). Regarding protective wears, many children and parents wanted dentists to wear plain masks (70.7% and 75.7% respectively and cream colored gloves (74.3% and 49.4% respectively). Female children had a greater preference for patterned face masks and patterned safety head caps (p=0.007) and the younger children a greater desire for dentists to wear goggles (p=0.012). Most children (59.5%) and parents (56.0%) preferred the dentist to wear the white coat and a smaller proportion of children(13.5%) and parents (17.8%) wanted child friendly scrubs. Older children (p=0.006)and males (p=0.002) favored dentists to be clad in closed shoes while female children had a greater preference for their dentists to use perfume(p=0.013). Conclusions: Both children and their parents prefer the professional white coat with varying degrees of preferences with regards to the type, colour and pattern of the protective apparel. The choice of dentist’s attire and protective apparel could depend on each individual child and child friendly attires should not be completely discarded as they may be useful in the management of highly anxious children.