Patient experience and non-surgical periodontal therapy in a postgraduate periodontal training program: A qualitative study

Objective:
To explore patient experience for non-surgical periodontal therapy using phenomenography.
Methods:
This qualitative study was performed in a postgraduate specialist training program in periodontics. Patients reported their experiences through in-depth interviews in order to recognize the impact of non-surgical periodontal therapy on their quality of life and their satisfaction. A homogeneous sampling procedure was used, establishing redundancy after the fifteenth interview. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed by three researchers who codified the answers into categories to determine the emerging topics.
Results:
The core emerging themes were: (i) lack of information about periodontal disease; (ii) experience during treatment; (iii) treatment implications; and (iv) clinician-patient relationship.
Conclusions:
Patients seem to have limited knowledge about periodontal diseases. Reasons for attendance mainly include bleeding gums, tooth mobility, and aesthetic problems. Therapy can generate pain, fear, and is considered invasive, whereas dentine hypersensitivity may occur post-operatively. Despite this, patients would be willing to undergo treatment again and were generally satisfied with the level of care and treatment received.