Abstract
Purpose : The purpose of this study was to establish an original Japanese version of the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and assess its descriptive statistics, reliability and validity as an outcome measure of complete denture prostheses.
Materials and Methods : Fifty-eight subjects (28 male and 30 female from 49 to 85 years of age ; mean age, 70.9 years) were recruited from edentulous patients who requested fabrication of new complete dentures (both maxillary and mandibular). General satisfaction and seven related items were selected for evaluation. Patients rated their existing prostheses at the first and second visits. Reliability was assessed with internal consistency and test-retest. Concurrent validity was assessed with association between general satisfaction and other items by simple linear regression.
Results : Significant differences were found between ratings of maxillary and mandibular dentures for general satisfaction (p=0.002), ability to masticate (p=0.004), ability to speak (p=0.013), stability (p=0.008), retention (p=0.001) and comfort (p=0.001). Distributions were overall skewed to the left for the maxillary and bimodal for the mandibular. Sufficient internal consistency and a correlation coefficient were obtained for each item. Significant relationships between general satisfaction and other items were found. However, the strength of explanation varied from 11.9 to 76.6%
Conclusion : The Japanese version of the VAS is considered to have sufficient reliability and validity for use as an outcome measure of patients' satisfaction with complete denture prostheses.
