Dentistry Department, University of Taubaté, Taubaté, Brazil.
J Oral Rehabil. 2010 Jul;37(7):518-24. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2842.2010.02072.x. Epub 2010 Feb 22.
There is a poor association between the dentist's evaluation of denture quality and patients' satisfaction with their dentures. Possible differences between dental professionals and patients' expectations might help explain differences in outcome evaluations. This study compared scores given by a dentist, a dental technician and patients for their expectations before and their final evaluation after complete dentures treatment. Twenty completely edentulous patients, a prosthodontist and a dental technician provided scores for the expected aesthetic and functional results of their dentures based on a visual analogue scale at baseline. Post-treatment completion ratings were given after adjustments, by dentist and patients. The dental technician provided post-treatment completion ratings after completing the dentures. The patients had higher expectations than the dental technician and the dentist perceived for both aesthetic and function (P < 0.001). The patients also presented higher post-treatment completion ratings than the dental professionals perceived for final aesthetics (P = 0.016, Kendall's W = 0.207) and function (P = 0.002, Kendall's W = 0.303). Only the dentist presented a statistically significant difference between expectations (lower) and final (higher) outcomes for aesthetics (P = 0.017) and function (P = 0.003). There was no correlation between expectations and post-treatment completion ratings according to the patients' age. There was also no correlation between the patients' gender and expectation scores. Patients presented higher expectations regarding their dentures than dental professionals. The dentist believed that dentures would bring fewer benefits than patients did, but his perception of denture benefits post-treatment was significantly higher than his expectations.
牙医对义齿质量的评估与患者对义齿的满意度之间存在较差的关联。牙科专业人员和患者的期望之间可能存在差异，这有助于解释结果评估的差异。本研究比较了牙医、牙科技师和患者在全口义齿治疗前对义齿预期的期望评分和治疗完成后的最终评估评分。20 名完全无牙的患者、一名修复科医生和一名牙科技师根据视觉模拟量表在基线时为义齿的预期美学和功能结果提供了评分。治疗完成后，由牙医和患者进行调整后进行治疗完成后评分。牙科技师在完成义齿后提供治疗完成后评分。患者对美学和功能的期望均高于牙科技师和牙医的感知（P < 0.001）。患者对最终美学（P = 0.016，Kendall's W = 0.207）和功能（P = 0.002，Kendall's W = 0.303）的治疗完成后评分也高于牙科专业人员的感知。只有牙医在美学（P = 0.017）和功能（P = 0.003）方面表现出期望（较低）和最终（较高）结果之间存在统计学显著差异。根据患者的年龄，期望与治疗完成后评分之间没有相关性。患者的性别与期望评分之间也没有相关性。患者对义齿的期望高于牙科专业人员。牙医认为义齿带来的好处比患者少，但他对义齿治疗后的好处的看法明显高于他的预期。
