QUALITY-OF-LIFE FOLLOWING 3RD MOLAR REMOVAL - A PATIENT VERSUS PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Aims To identify the adverse effects of third molar surgery having the greatest impact on patients' perceived quality of life; and to compar e the rankings between patients, dental practitioners (GDPs) and hospi tal consultants. Method Seven adverse effects were identified after in terviewing 20 patients. A questionnaire was sent to 120 patients whose third molars had been removed and 121 dental surgeons (100 GDPs and 2 1 consultants in oral and maxillofacial surgery). Results Response rat es for patients, GDPs and consultants were 72.5%, 92% and 76.2% respec tively. Patients ranked highest the effects on eating, while dental su rgeons ranked 'pain' the highest. The mean rankings of consultants and patients generally showed a closer agreement, than with GDPs. However , no statistically significant differences were detected between the m ean rankings of GDPs and consultants. Conclusions Dental surgeons' per ceptions of the impact of third molar surgery on their patients' quali ty of life show statistically significant differences from those of pa tients for four of the seven parameters assessed. Clinicians should co nsider mentioning the effects on ability to eat when obtaining informe d consent, since patients would appear to rank this an important side effect.