The patients' satisfaction following implant treatment

Abstract

The use of osseointegrated dental implants has become a successful procedure for the treatment of complete and partial edentulism. Numerous studies, both retrospective and prospective, have shown that edentulous patients were treated with osseointegrated implants for all applications, e.g. complete edentulism, partial edentulism, and more recently, single-tooth applications. Today, over 10000 publications on oral implants in humans are found in the literature. However, less than 2% of these studies deal with patient-centered outcomes of implant dentistry. Although patient-centered outcomes are usually not reported, these may represent major aspects of the implant success for the patient. Dental patients are better-informed consumers of dental services than they have been in the past. There are more dental practices available today, and patients can be more selective in their choice of dental practitioner. So the patient is a valuable information source for feedback to a dentist on how to improve treatment services. Use of a well-designed patient survey form can be an invaluable asset to the implant treatment practitioners. When assessing the outcomes of oral implant therapy, it is important to consider both the clinicians’and the patients’ appraisals. For the clinician, implant survival, prosthesis longevity, and the frequency of complications are the most significant parameters. On the other hand, the social and psychological impact of the treatment, cost-effectiveness, benefit, and utility are more important from the patient’s point of view. His/her degree of satisfaction depends on factors such as function, comfort, esthetics, any speech disruption. The objective of this study was to investigate patient satisfaction after implant therapy.