[Patient satisfaction with dental implants].
BACKGROUND
Almost all implant systems available today achieve success rates of over 90%. The subjective satisfaction of patients with dental implants is only rarely considered in the definition of implant success and there are only limited data on the satisfaction of patients with dental implants in the literature. Therefore, a satisfaction analysis was carried out in a retrospective study.


METHODS
In addition to a clinical investigation, 330 patients with 1,273 implants (Astra, Frialit-2, IMZ TwinPlus and ITI) were asked to answer a standardized questionnaire to rate their personal opinion on the implant success. A total of 199 questionnaires (803 implants, 63%) were returned and could be analyzed.


RESULTS
Of the patients, 67% participated in regular follow-up after implantation and 15% indicated postoperative discomfort. Patient satisfaction with the implants (rated on a scale of 1-6) was good or excellent (2 and 1, respectively) in 88% of cases. Satisfaction with the prosthetic treatment was 80%. The whole treatment was considered good or very comfortable by 86% of patients. If necessary, 91% of patients who underwent the procedure would do so again, and 94% would recommend the procedure to someone else. The Spearman correlation analysis did not reveal any statistically significant correlations between the clinical parameters and patient satisfaction scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite the high number of patients involved ( n=330), the expected influence of objective clinical parameters on patient satisfaction could not be statistically evaluated. Nevertheless, in addition to the clinical parameters, subjective patient satisfaction should be included in the evaluation of implant success.
Buch
R S R
RS
Klinik für Mund, Universitätsklinik Mainz, Augustusplatz 2, 55131 Mainz, Germany. buch@mkg.klinik.uni-mainz.de
Weibrich
G
G
Wegener
J
J
Wagner
W
W
D015921:Dental Implants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D015921:Dental Implants