Treatment satisfaction with facial prostheses.
BACKGROUND
Facial defects secondary to the treatment of neoplasms, congenital malformations, and trauma result in multiple functional and psychosocial difficulties. Prosthetic rehabilitation attempts to restore these facial disfigurements and may improve the level of function and self-esteem for these patients. However, a limited number of studies have evaluated the change in perceived quality of life after maxillofacial prosthetic rehabilitation.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate patients' perceptions of treatment with adhesive-retained and implant-retained facial prostheses and to assess differences in overall satisfaction with these 2 types of treatments.


METHODS
In this study, a questionnaire with 28 items was administered for evaluation of perceptions of appearance, comfort, fit and irritation, reliability of retention, frequency of wear, ease of placement and removal, level of self-consciousness, and value of treatment. Subjects were categorized into 2 groups: adhesive-retained group (n=16) and implant-retained group (n=19). Comparisons were made for each item in the questionnaire using Fisher exact tests (alpha=.05).


RESULTS
The implant group reported higher positive ratings on all 28 questionnaire items when compared with the adhesive group. Statistically significant (P<.05) differences between the implant and adhesive groups were noted for ease of placement and removal, frequency of wear at home, and quality of retention during various activities, such as home chores and when perspiring or sneezing/coughing.


CONCLUSIONS
The implant-retained facial prosthesis offers significant enhancement over an adhesive-retained prosthesis with respect to ease of use and retention during a variety of daily activities, resulting in greater use of the prosthesis.
Chang
Ting-Ling
TL
Division of Advanced Prosthodontics, Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology, UCLA School of Dentistry, University of California-Los Angeles, 10833 Le Comte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA. tlchang@dent.ucla.edu
Garrett
Neal
N
Roumanas
Eleni
E
Beumer
John
J
D000269:Adhesives; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004431:Ear, External; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009666:Nose; D020273:Orbital Implants / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019736:Prostheses and Implants / Q000523:psychology*; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000269:Adhesives