Influence of gender, age and number of prostheses to the adaptation to a complete denture

Abstract

Objectives: In reconstructive prosthetic dentistry adaptation refers to a process of adjusting to a complete denture and the reactions happening during the process. The prosthodontist has the task to make the period of adaptation as tolerable and short as possible for the patient. The aim of this paper was to research into the possible influence of gender, age and the number of complete dentures on the process of adaptation within edentulous patients, observed and measured against the number of follow-up appointments. Methods: The research included the total of 139 edentulous patients, of both genders, from 29 to 87 years of age. Patients who came to the Dentistry Clinic of Vojvodina had complete dentures done as a part of prosthetic rehabilitation. Gathered information has been processed by using the χ2 test with the level of statistical significance p<0.01. Results: After the prosthetic rehabilitation almost half of the patients (49.6%) have never appeared for the follow-up appointment. Closer analysis of the relation between the number of appointments and the gender of patients did not determine any significant difference in statistics regarding the process of adaptation of complete denture. The analysis of the data indicates that there is no significant statistical connection between the age of patients and the number of appointments Conclusions: The gender and age of patients, as well as the information if the patient has one or two complete dentures, do not have any influence on the adaptation of edentulous patients to complete dentures. Having in mind the constraints of this study, the number of follow-up appointments may be used as one of the indicators of the process of adaptation to complete dentures.