Development of an Orofacial Esthetic Scale in Prosthodontic Patients

Purpose: Despite the interest and need to assess orofacial esthetics in prosthodontic patients, few self-reporting instruments are available to measure this construct, and none describe how prosthodontic patients perceive the appearance of their face, mouth, teeth, and dentures. The development of the Orofacial Esthetic Scale (DES) is reported in this article, in particular its conceptual framework, how questionnaire items were generated, and the scale's measurement model. Materials and Methods: After test conceptualization, the authors solicited esthetic concerns from 17 prosthodontic patients by asking them to evaluate their own photographs. A focus group of 8 dental professionals reduced the initial number of concerns/items and decided on an item response format. Pilot testing in 9 subjects generated the final instrument, the DES. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to investigate DES dimensionality and item analysis to investigate item difficulty and discrimination in 119 subjects. Results: Prosthodontic patients generated an initial 28 esthetic concerns. These items were reduced to 8 preliminary representative items that were subsequently confirmed during pilot testing. Analysis supported 8 items assessing appearance: face, profile, mouth, tooth alignment, tooth shape, tooth color, gums, and overall impression, measured on an 11-point numeric rating scale (0 = very dissatisfied, 10 = very satisfied). Exploratory factor analysis found only 1 factor and high positive loadings for all items (.73 to .94) on the first factor, supporting the unidimensionality of the DES. Conclusions: The OES, developed especially for prosthodontic patients, is a brief questionnaire that assesses orofacial esthetic impacts. Int J Prosthodont 2010;23: 249-256.