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Outcome assessment of implant-supported prostheses
J S Feine1, E Dufresne, P Boudrias
1McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Statement Of Problem:
From the dental professional's standpoint, implant rehabilitation offers dramatically improved treatment alternatives to orally disabled patients. However, what a patient perceives as important to their function and satisfaction with their prostheses may be quite different from what the dentist believes are significant health-related improvements.
Purpose:
To resolve this problem, a series of investigations were designed to measure satisfaction and performance in groups of patients who wore various types of prostheses supported by endosseous titanium implants.
Material And Methods:
Methods are described for assessing treatment efficacy and population needs, including measures of perceived levels of disability, health-related quality of life, and functional capacity.
Results:
The findings highlight patient factors that have not been considered before and appear to contribute to the success of prosthetic rehabilitation for the edentulous patient.
Conclusion:
Patient-centered approaches to the assessment of treatment efficacy are highly relevant to today's prosthodontists, whose goals are the improvement of function and quality of life for their patients.