Expectations about dental implant treatment among postmenopausal women

Objectives: to assess expectations about treatment among postmenopausal women who received alveolar bone augmentation and dental implants

Methods: This is an observational study of women receiving one of three bone augmentation procedures during implant placement:  expansion, dehiscence repair, or block graft.  Inclusion criteria:  age between 55 and 80; twelve remaining teeth; one intra-oral edentulous area with a narrow alveolar ridge.  Participants completed questionnaires prior to treatment; data were collected on demographic characteristics, medical/dental history and clinical assessment of the implant.  Patient expectations were measured using a 15-item scale assessing expectations about oral function, aesthetics, general health, social function and well-being.  Each item was rated on a 7-point scale from 1 being no discomfort, 4 being so-so and 7 being much discomfort.

Results: Data are available on 54 women.  Mean age of participants was 61.9 (sd=5.4), most were married (54%), had completed college (47%), were white (88%), employed (62%) and had family incomes of greater than $75,000 (47%).  Four participants required a block graft; 26 had both dehiscence and expansion, 11 had dehiscence only and 13 had expansion only.  Patients expected the most discomfort in chewing, biting into foods, pain and swelling and the least discomfort with sinus problems, speech, feelings about self and social functioning.  Chi square analyses showed that patient expectations were not associated with type of bone augmentation, age, marital status, employment or family income.  Although the numbers are small, non-whites had significantly more concerns about discomfort with function (p<0.01), esthetics (p<0.05) and feelings about self (p<0.05) compared to whites.

Conclusions: Participants had generally positive expectations about the course of treatment for dental implant regardless of the type of bone augmentation needed.  Although there were relatively few non-whites in the study, these women expressed more negative expectations about treatment which should be investigated further.

NIDCR Grant 5R01DE017873