Knowledge and attitude of patients toward dental implants as an option for replacement of missing teeth.

Objective: The present study was undertaken to access the level of knowledge and attitude of patients toward implant treatment as an option for replacement of missing teeth.

Materials And Methods: An epidemiological study was conducted among 440 subjects who attended the OPD of two Departments (Prosthodontics and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery). A self-administered structured closed ended questionnaire pretested through a pilot survey was used in the study. The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 15.0. The Student's t-test and ANOVA test were used as test of significance.

Results: Out of 440 subjects asked about the knowledge and attitude about implants, only 33.3% had heard of implants as a treatment modality and dentists were the main source of information. Very few people had undergone implant surgery. The level of awareness increased with education. The main factor for not having implants was due to its high treatment charges. However, they were interested to know more about the implant treatment modality.

Conclusion: The survey was conducted in a dental institute and majority of the participants were unaware about dental implants. It also showed that need for providing more information to the patients about this treatment modality.