Effect of Different Postoperative Information Strategies on Patient Compliance Following Dental Implant Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: This prospective randomized controlled trial compared the effects of different postoperative information strategies on patient compliance during the first week following dental implant surgery.Methods: Eighty-two patients undergoing minor implant surgery were randomly assigned to three groups: verbal information only (Group A), verbal plus written information (Group B), or verbal information reinforced with a standardized telephone reminder on postoperative day 3 (Group C). Compliance was assessed on day 7 using a researcher-developed 10-item Likert-type questionnaire (total score range: 10–50). Intergroup comparisons for the primary outcome were performed using the Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn post-hoc analysis. Effect size was calculated using epsilon-squared (ε²).Results: No significant differences were observed among groups for early mechanical care behaviors (all p > 0.05). Significant intergroup differences were found for behaviors requiring sustained adherence, including oral hygiene, antibiotic use, analgesic/NSAID use, and chlorhexidine mouthwash use, with the highest compliance consistently observed in Group C (all p ≤ 0.01). Median total compliance scores were 36 [34–40], 42 [39–45], and 46 [43–48] for Groups A, B, and C, respectively (p < 0.001; ε² = 0.21).Conclusion: Telephone reinforcement of postoperative instructions significantly improved early patient compliance after implant surgery and may serve as a simple, low-cost adjunct to routine postoperative education.