|
Purpose: This article presents the results from a survey of patients’ degree of satisfaction
with their removable partial dentures (RPD) and the comparison between patient and
prosthodontist assessments. Materials and Methods: A total of 165 experienced RPD
wearers filled in a questionnaire and graded their RPDs depending on their level of
satisfaction. A scale ranging from 1 to 5 was used to assess general satisfaction with RPDs
and to assess their esthetics, retention, and hygiene. A specialist in prosthodontics assessed
the same prostheses using the same scale, not knowing the patient’s opinion. Results: The
patients’ assessments were high, and more than half of them graded their dentures as
excellent. On average, all variables were assessed higher by the patients than by the
prosthodontist ( P< .001). For the patients who gave the worst grades to their dentures, the
grades were lower than the prosthodontist’s ( P< .001), while the satisfied patients graded
their dentures much better than did the prosthodontist ( P< .001). Conclusion: On average,
patient assessment of the treatment outcomes with RPDs was less critical than
prosthodontist assessment. However, the few dissatisfied patients assessed their dentures
worse than did the prosthodontist.
|