ABSTRACT

Objectives: To find out which of the dentist’s attire is most preferred and which one is least by the patients (ii) to find out patient’s perception about his/her dentist’s competence in relation to his attire and (iii) to find out which attire of the dentist causes more anxiety in patients.

Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Oral Pathology, Institute of Dentistry, CMH Lahore Medical College Lahore and Military Dental Centre, Lahore from 1st July 2018 to 31st December 2019.

Methodology: Three hundred and nineteen participants were included. Patients between 15 to 60 years of age and either gender were included. Participants who gave a vague opinion that attire even matters were excluded.

Results: There were 169 males and 150 were females and 141 participants were employed, 106 were unemployed and 72 were students. The most preferred attire was scrubs selected by 43% of the participants. The least preferred attire t-shirt and shorts selected by 64.2%. According to patient’s perception the dentist who wears white lab coat were more competent rather than those wearing T shirts and shorts.

Conclusion: Patients perception about a dentist’s competence is affected by his/her attire.

Keywords: Perception, Dental professional, Attire