Dental Surveys: 7 Different Types and Advantages

As a child, most of us used to dislike dental checkups, but once you realize the importance of oral hygiene, you will understand how significant dental checkups are. Cavities, broken teeth, gum diseases, and various dental conditions can arise if you have poor oral hygiene and do not visit dentists regularly.

Even after understanding the importance of dental checkups, some people refuse to visit dentists due to a previous bad experience. This is why dental surveys are vital to gather patient feedback and improve services. In this blog, we will elaborate on different types of dental-related surveys and their primary benefits.

What can be Included in Dental Surveys?

In a dental survey, many topics related to patient experience can be included such as appointment booking, quality of the service, dentist behavior, overall cleanliness, and more. In short, dental clinics can include questions on which they want a genuine response from the patients.

Here are a few examples of the topics that can be included in the dental surveys:

• What is the common issue you face at dental clinics?

• How did you hear about our clinic?

• How was your experience with our online appointment booking system?

• Did you have a good experience at the reception desk?

• Is our patient waiting area well-maintained?

• How was your experience with the dentist?

• Did the dentist explain the exact problem and the available treatment options clearly?

• Have you received any oral hygiene tips from the dentist?

• Did our dental services meet your expectations?

• On a scale of 1 to 5, how likely are you to recommend our dental clinic to your friends and family?

• Is there anything that you want us to improve to ensure even better patient care?

6 Different Types of Dental Surveys  

Let’s have a quick look at the different types of dental surveys conducted by dentists, dental clinics, and dentistry-related organizations. 

1. Mobile Surveys 

One of the most common types of surveys is mobile surveys where dental clinics conduct the survey via an app. Patients need to download the app and fill in the survey. These surveys can include anything related to the dental visit, from waiting experience to the cost of treatment, and more.  

Since patients can only complete these surveys after downloading the app, surveyors can see how many patients are genuinely interested in providing their responses about the dental clinic services.

2. Kiosk Surveys 

Kiosk dental surveys are a new addition to the survey industry. A kiosk is a tiny, stand-alone, and unmanned device that is used for various purposes, such as shopping, self-checkout, displaying information about products or services, providing directions and internet access, and more.  

Kiosks come with an interactive display where the survey questions will be shown, and people have to choose from the responses given. Dental clinics often place these kiosks right outside the dentist room or the clinic in order to get immediate feedback from the patients who availed their dental services.  

Sometimes, the receptionists also ask the patients to give their feedback at the kiosk to ensure a better response and engagement rate. 

3. SMS Surveys

Phone surveys have taken a huge hit because of spam calls and many people are not that comfortable talking to strangers. However, SMS dental surveys are still going strong as only the people who choose SMS notifications at the time of registration will receive these surveys. Since people opt for SMS surveys, there is a better chance of them completing these and offering their genuine feedback.  

However, when sending SMS surveys, it is best to keep the questions short and simple. In addition, it is recommended to send only 2-3 questions at a time in order to avoid overwhelming people. If you send a lengthy SMS survey, people might opt out of SMS notifications or directly block your contact.

4. Email Surveys 

Most clinics have access to their patients’ emails due to the registration process, so sending email surveys is another best way to collect feedback from patients. Email surveys are typically sent 1-3 days after the patient’s visit, giving them the time to process the treatment.  

Personalizing the email surveys can encourage people to fill out the surveys as they feel that the clinic cares about them individually. Due to busy schedules or any other reason, sometimes people might not complete these surveys, so clinics can also send reminder or follow-up mails. 

5. QR Code Surveys 

QR code surveys are undoubtedly one of the best types of dental surveys, mainly preferred by clinics. Dental clinics do not even need to spend a hefty sum of money to conduct these surveys as they can paste these QR codes at various locations, such as outside the dentist room, in the reception area, near the restroom area, outside the clinic, and more.  

Curious patients have a high chance of scanning the code, which increases the possibility of patients filling out the survey. In addition, they can also use billboard QR codes to promote their services and spread pamphlets with QR codes to reach more people. 

6. Social Media Surveys 

There are billions of social media users, so there is a great chance for social media surveys to get more engagement. For instance, if the clinics have quite a huge following on their social media accounts, they can gather patient feedback by posting survey posts, reels, and polls. 

7. Chatbot Surveys 

Another way to get patient feedback is using chatbot dental surveys. By adding a chatbot feature to the website, clinics can obtain feedback when people visit their website. Patients can enter their contact details or application number (if available) and the chatbot will go through their dental visit record to send relevant surveys questions. 

What are the Advantages of Dental Surveys?  

Let’s see the diverse benefits of patient feedback and dental surveys:  

1. Dental clinics can determine whether patients are satisfied with the services and treatments they provide.  

1. Patients will share their experience and explain if there is room for improvement in the quality of the services, including appointment booking process, waiting room, overall hygiene, etc.  

1. By conducting a patient satisfaction survey, clinics can determine if patients felt comfortable talking to the staff and the dentist or have any issues with their behavior.  

1. Patient feedback can be used by the clinics as real customer reviews on their website or other online portals. 

1. Some third-party accredited organizations may conduct anonymous surveys on clinics to see how patients feel about their services. 

Conduct Patient Surveys with piHappiness

With the help of dental surveys, clinics can obtain genuine feedback from patients which further is used to know how patients are feeling about the quality and the services offered. This feedback helps them know if they need to make any changes to the existing processes to retain patients and gain their loyalty.

Now that you know the types of dental surveys and their benefits, you might be wondering how to conduct these surveys. piHappiness is here to help. You can use free survey templates to get used to the process and customize it later depending on the kind of feedback you want from your patients.