TITLE:
Awareness of Patients toward Dental Implants as an Alternative Treatment to Replace Missing Teeth in Kinshasa, D. R. Congo
AUTHORS:
Em Kalala-Kazadi, Patrick Disidi-Yakini, Fidèle Nyimi-Bushaba, Edize Ekofo-Ingaya, Augustin Mantshumba-Milolo
KEYWORDS:
Awareness, Dental Implant, Treatment Modality, Oral Rehabilitation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Stomatology,
Vol.8 No.12,
December
19,
2018
ABSTRACT: Background:
Dental implant is an artificial root inserted in the jawbone, which restores a lost tooth so
that it looks, feels, and is fit
like a natural tooth. It is considered to be the best treatment option for
single or multiple missing teeth. The aim of this study was to assess the
awareness of patients about dental implants as an alternative treatment in
Congolese patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was
conducted in two institutions namely, CBCO Bandal and Ngaliema Clinic, from
August to December 2017. A total of 450 respondents have participated in the
survey. A printed questionnaire comprised of 20 questions in order to evaluate
patients dental awareness was used. Gender, level of education, awareness of
dental implant and dental implants therapy, sources of information and the
expectation about the sources of information were assessed. The collected
data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2010 and analyzed by SPSS (IBM SPSS 20.0,
Chicago, IL, USA) software. Results: Out of 450 participants, 14.4% were
aware of dental implants. The main disadvantage of dental implant was the high
cost. When asked about the anchorage, 86% didn’t know where the dental implant
was anchored. Ninety-two percent didn’t know for how long an implant last, 6%
thought that dental implant last for a lifetime. When patients were asked about
the sources of information, the dentist (5%) and media (5.5%) were the main
sources of information. The majority of patients (88.4%) would like to get
information about dental implants from their dentist. Conclusion:
Dentists should be more involved in the promotion of information about dental
implants as a treatment modality to replace missing teeth.