Patient evaluation of treatment with fixed implant-supported partial dentures

The aim of this study was to analyse the patient evaluation of functional t reatment outcome in 40 periodontally compromised patients who received impl ant-supported prostheses (ISPs) as part of the total treatment. The treatme nt protocol comprised periodontal treatment, extraction of teeth with poor prognosis, placement of dental titanium implants, and after healing, insert ion of fixed ISPs. Five of the patients became edentulous in one jaw after extraction of all teeth and received a complete ISP, whereas 35 patients be came partially edentulous after extraction of some teeth, 12 receiving a pa rtial ISP on greater than or equal to 3 implants, and 23 one on two implant s. The follow-up period was on average 1.8 years after the connection of th e prostheses, which provided the patients a dentition with a mean of 12 occ luding dental units. The first author (S.-W.Yi) performed all implant treat ment. Patients' opinions on oral functions-mastication, phonetics, oral hyg iene, chewing comfort and aesthetics-were evaluated by means of a questionn aire both before implant installation and at the last follow-up. A control group of 30 subjects with a healthy dentition of 14 occluding natural pairs of teeth answered the same questionnaire on one occasion. A great majority of the patients were extremely satisfied with the oral function after trea tment and experienced the ISPs as 'natural teeth'. There was no significant difference between the three treatment groups and the control group for ma stication, phonetics, chewing comfort and aesthetics. Patients with ISPs re ported a small but significantly greater difficulty with oral hygiene proce dures than the controls with natural teeth. Most patients said that they wo uld undergo the treatment again, if necessary, and recommend it to others. It was concluded that the rehabilitation of the periodontally compromised p atients, including ISPs on osseointegrated dental titanium implants, result ed in subjectively improved and satisfactory oral function.