Evaluation of awareness, knowledge, and approval of dental implant treatment among dental patients in northwestern Nigeria: A cross-sectional study

Background: A dental implant is an artificial root inserted surgically in the process of single or multiple teeth replacements. This study aims to evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and approval of dental implant treatments among dental patients in our hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 442 adult patients attending the Dental Clinic of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto State, Nigeria, from March 2021 to February 2022. After obtaining ethical approval, participants were recruited using a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire consist of 12 questions, assessing the patient's awareness, knowledge, and willingness to approve a dental implant as an option for teeth replacement. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM SPSS) software version 20. Results: There were 293 (66.3%) males and 149 (33.7%) females with an mean ± standard deviation of age 37.4 ± 12.4 years and a range of 20–65 years. Two hundred and forty-six (55.7%) were unaware of a dental implant as an option for missing teeth replacement and 196 (44.3%) have heard of a dental implant. The majority of respondents (73%) heard about dental implants from a dentist, followed by social media (19.4%). Responses from questions yielded variable responses about the knowledge of implant. Regarding the patient's approval, 80.1% expressed their willingness to replace missing tooth/teeth with a dental implant. Conclusion: This research revealed a below-average level of awareness of dental patients about a dental implant as an option for teeth replacement. Dental surgeons need to do more on information dissemination about the use of dental implants.