[Satisfaction survey of the dental treatment project of Hadassah and the "International Fellowship of Christians and Jews" among the family and the professional servant].

UNLABELLED: Social inequalities in health are a serious public health problem. In Israel dental treatment is not included in the national health insurance. Low socio-economic groups are therefore significantly inferior in oral and dental health. Health for all is one of the WHO aims for the 21st century. This project, which was described in a previous article, intended to upgrade dental health of those belonging to a low socio-economic group and to minimize the inequality in dental health by providing care to children 6-12 years of age free of charge. This survey investigated the satisfaction of the children's family, the social workers and the dental team, involved in this project. METHODS: The study population included 124 parents of children who were treated. These were chosen by a randomized sample from the entire population that was treated in the project. Interviews were conducted in Hebrew, by one interviewer who read the questions and all possible answers. The other satisfaction's interview was targeted at the professional team including the entire dental team and the welfare department's workers. RESULTS: 55 providers were interviewed and 124 parents. There satisfaction from the project was very high although there were concerns regarding the range of the ages that had been chosen. The satisfaction among the children's family was high but there were significant differences between the clinics in the various cities. The parents from Jerusalem and Bet -She'an were more satisfied than the others (P = 0.011). DISCUSSION: Overall, the parents, the dental team and the social workers, expressed high levels of satisfaction with the project. The differences between the clinics could be due to the character, the background, the knowledge and the professionalism of the clinic and the dental team on the one hand and, the environment and the culture on the other hand. The project was very successful among all the participants the care givers, social workers and patients. The treatment improved quality of life of the children and brought some hope and light to their lives.