Appointments Failure Among Female Patients at a Dental School Clinic in Saudi Arabia

The aim of the study was to assess the factors and reasons responsible for failed appointments among female patients attending a dental school clinic. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the College of Dentistry in Riyadh city on 200 patients who failed to keep their appointments at least one time. The data were collected using a structured pretested questionnaire through a telephone interview method from January through May 2007. The selected sample was in the age group of fourteen years and older. The response rate was 86 percent. The results illustrated that most of the patients who broke their appointments were married, housewives, above forty years in age, and of low to middle socioeconomic status. It was found that the most common reasons for failed appointments were fasting in the Holy month of Ramadan (79.1 percent) followed by transportation difficulty (76.2 percent), inconvenient appointment time (65.1 percent), and dissatisfaction of communication with booking area (54.1 percent).