Satisfaction assessment in dental implant therapy: prospective study. Part II

Objectives: to measure patient's satisfaction with care and health-related quality of life after implant therapy and prosthodontic rehabilitation. Methods: data were collected at the Charles Foix Hospital (AP-HP), Ivry sur Seine (suburb of Paris), France. Fourty nine adults (aged 27 to 68 years), were included in this within subjects prospective follow-up study. Patients' satisfaction was evaluated with a questionnaire based on Visual Analogue Scales (VAS, 24 items), closed questions ( 2 items) and open questions (4 items). The 30 items were splited in five domains : pain, oral functions, dental and occlusal functions, esthetic, body integrity and comfort. The questionnaire was administrated with supervision the first time before receiving implant treatment, and the second time within one year aftert completion of prosthetic rehabilitation. Statistical analysis for VAS data was performed using paired T-test (p< 0.05). Results: in the domain of pains, no significant differences were recorded for all the 3 items. In the domain of oral functions, significant differences were observed for the questions number 4 (p=3.5x10-9), 5 (p=1.3x10-10), 7 (p=9.4x10-5), 8 (p=10-3), 9 (p=3.2x10-6) and 10 (p=5.1x10-5). In the domain of dental and occlusal functions, only data of the question number 14 were statistically different (p=5x10-4). In the esthetic domain, significant differences were observed for the questions number 16 (p=2x10-4) and 17 (p=3x10-5). In the domain of body integrity and comfort, only the data of question number 20 (p=3.7x10-8) and 22 (p=8x10-3) were statistically different. Conclusion: the findings indicate that implant therapy is asociated with a more positive health-related quality of life outcome. Further study may compare different prosthetics procedures to provide relevant informations to help clinician decision making and satisfy the patient's needs.