The specific aim of this proposal is to develop and validate a self-reporting instrument to measure patient satisfaction with dental implant procedures and outcomes. Dental implant reconstruction is a relatively new and rapidly expanding technology for the replacement of missing teeth. Until now, very little work has been done in the assessment of treatment outcomes from a patient perspective. The proposed instrument (Appendix I) has been designed to measure ten hypothesized constructs of patient satisfaction with implants, using multiple items for each construct. A review of the survey by clinical and measurement experts, as well as a pre-pilot study with a small group of implant patients, will assure that a broad net has been cast in the representation of items in this survey. In the next phase, a revised draft of the instrument will be used in a large scale pilot study of 1100 implant patients. This will generate sufficient data to permit multivariate data analyses for the assessment of reliability and validity. Multitrait scaling analysis will be conducted for the evaluation of convergent and discriminant validity. Additionally, three other data analytic steps will be applied. Cronbach's alpha will be computed as a measure of internal consistency reliability. A factor analysis of the item pool will be used to identify patterns among the responses and compare them to the hypothesized scales (constructs). Finally, the score from the items in the overall satisfaction section of the survey will be used as the dependent variable in a multiple regression analysis with the other items and scales as predictors. This will identify the items that are the strongest predictors of satisfaction. The final draft of the instrument will have the capability to measure and compare patient satisfaction at multiple points before, during, and after treatment. It will be useful in any studies of treatment outcomes in dental implants.
