The Psychological Disturbance Associated with Tooth Loss Questionnaire Revisited: Validation on a National Greek Sample

Background. Edentulism is considered a chronic disability since tooth loss, and the required prosthodontic rehabilitation with removable prostheses might irreversibly affect function aesthetics significantly impact patients’ psychological well-being social interactions. The present study aimed to translate, validate, adapt in native population recently developed nine-item self-reporting disturbance associated loss questionnaire (PDATL). well-established Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) was also employed identify potential emotional states of depression, anxiety, stress caused by denture-wearing. Methods. For analysis, nationwide baseline data from two samples were used. participants using clinically acceptable complete or partial dentures for at least 1-year interviewed May 2021 October 2021. fabricated different Dental School settings, National Kapodistrian University Athens (NKUA) Aristotle Thessaloniki (AUTH). Data both clinical studies analyzed similarly, parallel fashion, enhance generalizability results. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient measured internal consistency reliability, whereas Principal Component analysis Varimax Kaiser Normalization rotation subsequently performed test questionnaire’s structure regarding its pattern matrix. All analyses α = 0.05 level significance statistical software (SPSS Statistics Windows, v20.0; SPSS Inc. (Chicago, IL, USA)). Results. In sets, all items except “discomfort/pain” “difficult relax” contributed scale structure. that presented weaker contributions indicated they redundant. DASS-21 statements revealed no severe negative symptoms settings. However, acknowledged as critical factor distress their life. Conclusion. PDATL has several advantages it allows summary score calculation, due shortened content, can be easily distributed during telephone interview. This important older sufferers where digital technology an additional advantage remote denture fabrication through workflow.