PATIENT’S PERCEPTION AND SATISFACTION ON DENTAL IMPLANT THERAPY BY POSTGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCED DENTISTS

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate and compare patient’s perception and satisfaction between patients who received dental treatment from postgraduate dental students and experienced dentists. Material and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in patients who received the dental implant from Faculty of dentistry Chulalongkorn University. A data collection of patient’s perception and satisfaction was done by questionnaire which was sent by mail. The questionnaire contained 23 statements including 7 statements of demographic data, 7 statements of perception, and 9 statements of satisfaction. The patient had to answer through the one-best-answer multiple choices and visual analog scale (VAS). Results: The 382 participants showed that the main implant information source was dentist (n=213, 55.8%). Ninety percent of the participants got well informed about dental implant and satisfied with chewing function, phonetics aspect and esthetic appearance of dental implant. However, an inappropriate perception was illustrated. For example, eighteen percent of the participant agreed with the statement “Dental implants require less care than natural teeth”. About thirty-five percent of participants agreed with the statement “Dental implants last longer than natural teeth”. Seventy-five percent of participants agreed with the statement “Treatment with dental implants have no risk or complication”. Furthermore, half of the participants agreed with “The cost of dental implant therapy is appropriate”. Participants who got treatment from the experienced dentist rated higher score in “I am well informed with dental implants treatment” and “Dental implants look as nice as natural teeth” (p=0.029 and p=0.004, respectively). Conclusion: Most participants had an appropriate perception and a high satisfaction after dental implant treatment. However, the information about the potential complications of dental implant was inadequate. Moreover, half of the participants reported unreasonable cost of dental implant. Despite the expertise levels of dental implant treatment were different, most participants had similar level of satisfaction. They also had similar level of perception in most aspect; however, participants who underwent dental implant treatment from experienced dentist had better information and more natural looking teeth than those who got treatment from postgraduate dental student.