Patients’ perceptions of dental professionalism: a cross-sectional study from Malaysia

Professionalism is a key component of clinical dental practice, encompassing clinical skills, ethical behaviour, effective communication, empathy, and respect for patient autonomy. Although several regulatory bodies define professionalism from institutional perspectives, patient perceptions of dental professionalism in a multicultural country like Malaysia remain largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate this gap and evaluate the associations between sociodemographic factors and these perceptions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the native Malay language, Bahasa Melayu (BM), from April to June 2025 at the Faculty of Dentistry, SEGi University, and the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya. Malaysian patients aged 18 to 75 who were proficient in BM participated in the study. All participants completed a validated self-administered questionnaire assessing demographic data and 20 traits of dental professionalism. Factor analysis (FA) with Varimax rotation identified underlying dimensions. Associations between sociodemographic variables and derived factors were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. The study involved 455 patients, valuing hygiene, communication, clinical skills, ethics, and compliance, while disfavoring unauthorized disclosure and poor treatment explanation. FA identified two factors: (1) “Dental professionals’ competency, communication, ethics, and service” (74.3% variance, Cronbach’s α = 0.991) and (2) “Patients’ right to information and privacy” (12.9% variance, Cronbach’s α = 0.913). Sociodemographic variables like age, gender, ethnicity, income, frequency, and place of dental practice significantly influenced the patient perceptions of professionalism. Malaysian patients perceive dental professionalism as a multidimensional concept integrating good personal hygiene, clinical competence, ethical conduct, effective communication, and respect for patient autonomy.