Understanding the Lived Experience of North American Dental Patients With a Single-Tooth Implant in the Upper Front Region of the Mouth: Protocol for a Qualitative Study

Background: Assessment of the subjective experiences of individuals with maxillary anterior (ie, the upper front region of the mouth) single-tooth implants is limited mainly to quantitative measurements of satisfaction with appearance. Interestingly, there is unexplained variability in the relationship between satisfaction and appearance. Objective: This qualitative study protocol aims to explore and better understand the satisfaction with appearance and function in a Canadian population with maxillary anterior single-tooth implants treated at a postgraduate university clinic. Thus, we aim to obtain diversity among participants relating to the identification of esthetically pleasing and displeasing cases from a clinician perspective. Methods: A qualitative research design using interpretative phenomenology analysis (IPA) will provide an adaptable inductive research approach. The participants will be recruited, and consent documents, photographs, digital intraoral scans, and self-administered questionnaire responses will be obtained from them. The transcribed verbatim data from audio-recorded, in-depth, semistructured, one-to-one interviews of the participants will be managed, coded, and analyzed thematically with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software. The IPA will consider the COnsolidated criteria for REporting Qualitative (COREQ) guidelines when applicable. Results: For the qualitative interview, we plan to include at least eight patients to conduct up to 1.5 hours of open-ended interviews with each participant aided by an interview guide. Ethical approval was granted by the University of British Columbia Behavioral Research Ethics Board (H19-00107) in May 2019. Two American dental foundations funded this study. Conclusions: The analysis in this study will elucidate the aspects (including their value) that influence participant satisfaction at different dental implant treatment stages. This will be the first qualitative study on this group of the population to explore and obtain a better understanding of their satisfaction with appearance and function, as well as any other patient-reported outcome measures that could be identified.