On the prosthodontic patient. An investigation of factors influencing patient expectations and satisfaction with extensive prosthodontic care

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to study four important determinants for the prognosis of prosthodontic treatment, namely the patients expectations, personality traits, and satisfaction with treatment. The fourth aim is to relate the technical quality of the treatment to the patient's opinion about it. A specially designed questionnaire to explore expectations of treatment was sent to 489 patients awaiting extensive prosthodontic rehabilitation. The group was found to only differ significantly from the general population in regard to educational level, which was lower. The study indicated that patients expected treatment to enhance their general well-being. Their expectations could also be be linked to personality traits, three different groups being identified. It was concluded that certain personality indicators were related to clinically relevant factors. After treatment was completed, a second questionnaire was distributed to the same group of patients to explore their level of general satisfaction and different aspect of this. The general level of satisfaction was very high, although several different dimensions of satisfaction were identified. The various dimensions were summated to obtain a comprehensive measure, one found to possess adequate discriminatory ability. In a clinical follow-up study, 42 patients were selected in accordance with the index, a group of "fully satisfied" and a group of "less satisfied" individuals being formed. Their appliances were classified in terms of the C.D.A. quality assessment system. It was concluded that patient satisfaction was associated with the technical quality of the prosthodontic reconstruction's. It could be concluded that expectations and satisfaction with prosthodontic treatment are multidimensional phenomena, influenced by the patient's personality as well as the technical performance of the treat- ment.