Analytical Study of Patient-Reported Outcomes After Dental Implant Placement at Nigerian Tertiary Centres

Patient-reported outcome measures provide a holistic evaluation of dental implant success beyond conventional clinical and radiographic endpoints, and analytical study of PROMs in Nigerian implant patients fills an important gap in local evidence. This study analytically examined patient-reported outcomes at 12 and 24 months after dental implant placement at four tertiary dental centres: LUTH Lagos, UCH Ibadan, UBTH Benin City, and ABUTH Zaria. A prospective observational study enrolled 98 patients receiving single or multiple dental implants. Patient-reported outcome measures assessed included the OHIP-14 for quality of life, a visual analogue scale for satisfaction, and function-specific items for chewing, speech, and aesthetics. Clinical implant success was assessed by trained examiners using Albrektsson criteria. Results at 24 months showed a significant improvement in OHIP-14 score from baseline (mean 28.4 to 11.7, p < 0.001), with the largest improvements in functional limitation and psychological discomfort domains. Patient satisfaction was very high (mean 4.6 out of 5.0). Clinical implant survival at 24 months was 92.9 percent. Among the 7 implant failures, 4 were associated with uncontrolled diabetes at placement. Aesthetic satisfaction was lower for patients with anterior implants compared to clinician ratings, highlighting a patient-clinician perception gap. The study provides the first multi-site PROM data for dental implants in Nigeria and recommends standardising PROM collection in all Nigerian implant programmes and developing local implant success benchmarks. Keywords: dental implants, patient-reported outcomes, OHIP-14, Nigerian tertiary hospitals, implant survival