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Professional News Articles : : ON PRACTICE MANAGEMENT by Janyce Hamilton : Gallup and Harris poll trends: Dentistry is a trusted profession

Gallup and Harris poll trends: Dentistry is a trusted profession

December 3, 2008

Advertising by dental companies and media campaigns by dentist-member organizations are elevating the image of the profession. This conclusion can be drawn in analyzing the public opinion trends from two different polls—Gallup and Harris—taken during the last few decades.

Every November since 1977, the Washington, DC-based Gallup organization surveys Americans on their opinions regarding the trustworthiness of various professions. The poll doesn’t include every profession every year when surveying, however. According to a Gallup spokesperson contacted for this report, “Dentists were not among the 21 professions we listed in this year’s Honesty and Ethics in Professions [survey].

“Every year when we publish the results of this survey, we receive hundreds of complaints from people in various professions who are slighted that their field was not included. A comprehensive list would include at least 100 professions -and we get requests to include some very obscure professions that would require an even longer list. A reality of surveying is that respondents get frustrated if a list of questions gets too long. As we exceed their attention span, respondents either start giving meaningless answers or stop participating entirely. Therefore, we alternate some professions in the survey to keep the list manageable.”

–Spokesperson for Gallup, Nov. 26, 2008

I decided to use data from the most recent Gallup poll that included dentists—2006.

From 1981 to 2006, Americans ranking dentists as highly or very highly honest and ethical rose from 52 percent to 62 percent. While the record high in 2006 for dentists of 62 percent would sound like a “D” if viewed on the traditional school grading scale (90+ “A”, 80-90 “B”, 70-80 “C” and 60-70 ”D” Under 60 “F”),  Gallup uses a different scale altogether. Consider that in the 2006 poll, 34 percent of Americans surveyed ranked dentists as “average” in terms of honesty and ethical standards—this means that 96 percent of respondents thought dentists were average to very highly honest and ethical. There were only 4 percent of respondents who thought dentists were low or very low in terms of honesty and ethical standards. (If only those 4 percent would find good dentists!)   

Overall, the Gallup organization’s survey results are reason to feel good. In 2001, Gallup reported dentists were in the “Top 10” (10th place) as most honest. In 2006, Gallup reported dentists had moved up to the “Top 5” (5th place) only beaten by nurses (always first place), pharmacists, veterinarians and physicians (Gallup Poll on Honesty/Ethics in Professions).

Let’s look at another poll from the same year that Gallup last surveyed Americans on dentists: 2006. The table below displays a sample of the findings of a Harris poll of Americans that asked, "If you were getting professional help or advice from each of the following, how much would you trust them to give you advice which was best for you?"

Table: Harris Poll percentages of Americans surveyed who trust various professionals to give good advice.*

*Totals are rounded so may not add up to 100%.
Source: The Harris Poll No. 37, May 10, 2006. Accessed Nov. 26, 2008.

The Harris Poll has dentists ranked ahead of nurses by one percentage point in terms of the profession whose advice was completely sound; but when the rankings of “completely” and “somewhat” trusted advice were combined, nurses came in ahead of dentists—92 percent and 91 percent, respectively. Curiously, as in the Gallup poll, the Harris poll found 4 percent of Americans polled thought dentists not at all trustworthy to give good advice.

Although dentists were not included in the 2008 Gallup poll of professions ranked as honest and ethical, it is still interesting to look at its newly released findings. For example, policemen are ranked lower in the 2008 poll than dentists (in 2006). That surprised me. Less surprising was that bankers and clergy were ranked lower in 2008 than dentists. The bank bailouts and the church abuse scandals of recent years have tarnished those professions’ images.

Conclusion

The majority of the American public has a positive opinion of dentists. One can only speculate as to why public opinion is climbing regarding dentists over the last two decades. Have dentists changed the way they interact with patients? Are dental manufacturers airing more advertising? Are the public awareness campaigns of member-dentist associations and societies affecting public opinion?

While people may still harbor fears of dental treatments (that is, needles and “drills”), it is reassuring to know that it isn’t that they dislike the doctors who provide the care. Quite the opposite—Americans trust doctors of dentistry to tell them the truth and give good advice on what to do.

Savor that.

Janyce Hamilton is an award-winning Chicagoland freelance dental writer and editor. Send suggestions for topics to be covered, or any comments on this column, to review@cds.org.

© 2008, Chicago Dental Society