A pilot study on expectation and satisfaction of denture patient in IIUM Dental Clinic.

Introduction: Patient’s expectation can profoundly affect the satisfaction towards a new denture construction. Previous studies have stated that, prosthetic treatment failures occur not because of clinical and technical problem but due to unrealistic expectation of the patient who expect the denture to be comparable to the natural dentition functionally and aesthetically. It is a vital to determine the level of patient expectation and educate them so that their expectation could be keeps at a reasonable level. In addition this could ensure high satisfaction of the dental treatment. The objective of the study was to determine the patient expectation and satisfaction before and after denture construction. Materials and methods: This research involves 40 patients who received one or a pair of complete denture at the Kuliyyah of Dentistry, IIUM. The subjects were divided into two groups, a tested and a control group. The tested group were received an informational pamphlet and none for the control group. Patient with partial dentition on both arches and patient with severe gag reflex were excluded from this study. Level of expectation and satisfaction of the patient towards the prosthesis were measured by using self-administered questionnaire. Results: There were no significance difference of expectation and satisfaction shown between tested and control group before treatment. However after a session of denture education by using an informational pamphlet, the level of expectation reduced and the level of satisfaction increase slightly in the tested group. Conclusion: The use of informational pamphlet during denture education does give a positive impact to the outcome of prosthodontics treatment