Anisha Rodrigues
MDS in Prosthodontics, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India.
Title: Patients’ Experiences With Edentulism And The Use Of A Removable Dental Prosthesis: A Qualitative Study
Biography
Biography: Anisha Rodrigues
Abstract
Loss of teeth or edentulism can have a negative impact on the quality of life of an individual. Removable dentures play an essential role in restoring the functions of mastication, esthetics, speech and overall comfort of the patient. Every skilled professional constructs a denture with utmost care and complies with accepted criteria of fabrication. However, some patients are still not satisfied with the prosthesis. Several quantitative studies on the patient's satisfaction with removable dentures have concluded that denture satisfaction has multifactorial dimensions. Therefore, we have used Qualitative Research methods with in-depth interviews to explore, interpret, and obtain a deeper understanding of the attitudes and expectations of patients with regard to edentulism and removable dentures through their personal experiences.
The study was conducted in the Department of Prosthodontics, Crown and Bridge, in A.J. Institute of Dental Sciences, Mangalore, India. We interviewed 15 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, were of varied age, social background, and using a removable partial or complete denture prosthesis before achieving data saturation. An interview guide was used to ask relevant open-ended questions along with spontaneous and planned probes to obtain a deeper insight of their responses. Five basic questions were asked to all patients to obtain a wide range of responses; e.g. importance of natural teeth, perceptions of tooth loss, motivation for replacement, advantages and problems with dentures. The interviews were recorded and transcribed before analysis. Qualitative content analysis was done with a thematic framework, wherein a subjective interpretation of the data was done through a systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes. We obtained five themes from the patients’ experiences of their edentulous state and the use of removable partial or complete denture prosthesis:Perception of the tooth loss phenomenon, Varying experiences with dentures, Denture usage and its maintenance, Varying attitudes of dentists towards patients’ complaints, and Awareness, perception and preference of treatment modalities.
The themes that have emerged from this study have helped us highlight the grey areas concerning edentulism and patient care with significant implications for the dental profession.