title: Progress and trends in patients' mindset on dental implants. I: level of information, sources of information and need for patient information.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about the level of information on implant dentistry in the public. A representative opinion poll on dental implants in the Austrian population was published in 2003 (Clinical Oral Implants Research 14:621-642). Seven years later, the poll was rerun to assess the up-to-date information level and evaluate recent progress and trends in patients' mindset on dental implants.
  
  
  METHODS
  One thousand adults--representative for the Austrian population--were presented with a total of 19 questionnaire items regarding the level and the sources of information about dental implants as well as the subjective and objective need for patient information.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the survey of 2003, the subjective level of patient information about implant dentistry has significantly increased in the Austrian population. The patients' implant awareness rate was 79%. The objective level of general knowledge about dental implants was still all but satisfactory revealing unrealistic patient expectations. Three-quarters trusted their dentists for information about dental implants, while one-quarter turned to the media. The patients' wish for high-quality implant restorations was significantly higher than in 2003, yet the majority felt that only specialists should perform implant dentistry.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This representative survey reveals that dentists are still the main source of patient information, but throws doubt on the quality of their public relations work. Dentists must improve communication strategies to provide their patients with comprehensible, legally tenable information on dental implants and bridge information gaps in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery, Bernhard Gottlieb School of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Strasse 25a, Vienna, Austria. bernhard.pommer@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pommer
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zechner
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watzak
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ulm
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watzek
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tepper
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001317:Austria; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015921:Dental Implants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011639:Public Opinion; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants