Page 129 - Impact of implant retained overdenture treatment and speech, oromyofunction, social participation and quality of life.

Personality, social participation and OHRQoL in dental implant treatment
and social participation measures (frequency and diversity), was very poor, suggesting unique perspectives of patients and observers on the outcomes of dental treatment. This finding parallels observations by Costa and McCrae (1987), showing that the correlation between patients’ self-reported complaints and assessments by physicians were small to moderate 19. These and our findings together suggest that it is useful to rely on multiple observers to evaluate (dental) treatment impact and include evaluations by knowledgeable others beyond patient self-reports 33.
A third main finding was that personality was related to self-reported quality of life. Fully in line with the literature, those lower on Neuroticism and higher on Extraversion reported higher quality of life 5. This was true before and after their treatment. Such associations were previously also described for dental patient samples 24–27. We also found Agreeableness to be associated with higher quality of life, but only in the pre-treatment conditions.
Fourth, Openness to experience was consistently predictive of the pre and post-treatment frequency and variety social participation indicators. These correlations are in line with conceptual expectations, given that people who are higher on Openness are presumed to explore and build broader and more varied social networks. Give its interpersonal nature, it is surprising to notice that the correlations with Extraversion failed to reach significance, perhaps due to small sample size. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were positively associated with frequency of social participation before treatment, suggesting that these traits facilitate establishing social contacts when still having severe dental problems, but their effect disappears or diminished after reconstructive treatment.
A fifth key finding was that personality did not account for changes in the reported outcomes after dental treatment. In other words, the effect of personality on the reporting of outcomes was already captured by the pre- treatment evaluation of quality of life and social participation.
Sixth and finally, beneficial effects of treatment on quality of life and social participation indices were only observed in the complete jaw restoration group and in the self-reports only. No such effects were observed in the single unit
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