Patients' experiences of dental implant treatment: A literature review of key qualitative studies

Objectives: To identify and summarise the findings of previous qualitative studies relating to patients' experience of dental implant treatment (DIT) at various stages of their implant treatment, by means of textual narrative synthesis. Data/sources: Original articles reporting patients' experience with dental implant were included. A two-stage search of the literature, electronic and hand search identified relevant qualitative studies up to July 2014. An extensive electronic search was conducted of databases including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane Database and Google Scholar. Study selection: Included primary studies (n = 10) used qualitative research methods and qualitative analysis to investigate patients' experiences with dental implants treatment. Conclusions: While the growing interest in implant treatment for the replacement of missing dentition is evident, it is essential to investigate patients' perceptions of different aspects of implant treatment. This textual narrative synthesis conducted to review qualitative studies which provided insight into patients' experience of two types of implant prostheses namely ISOD (implant-supported overdenture) and FISP (fixed implant supported prostheses). Primary reviewed studies tended to include samples of older patients with more extensive tooth loss, and to focus on experiences prior to and post-treatment rather than on the treatment period itself. Findings across reviewed studies (n = 10) suggested that patients with FISP thought of implant treatment as a process of 'normalisation'¹ and believed that such implant restorations could be similar to natural teeth, whereas patients with ISOD focused more on the functional and social advantages of their implant treatment. Clinical significance: The growing interest in qualitative research is evident in several branches of clinical dentistry and dental implantology is not an exception. Qualitative studies concerning the patients account of their experience of dental implants is however limited. The aim of this review is to firstly identify recent work within this field and to subsequently categorise it more consistently by means of textural narrative synthesis, thus highlighting similarities and differences and enabling identification of gaps in research knowledge thereby setting the direction of further research.