Journal of Nepalese Prosthodontic Society

DOI :

Abstract

Introduction: Teeth play a significant part in the maintenance of a healthy personality and anaffirmative self-image. Tooth loss is psychologically a very traumatizing and upsetting experience,and is considered to be a serious event in the life of a person, requiring significant psychologicalreadjustment.

Objective: Evaluate the prosthetic status and attitude of the patients towards replacement of theteeth among the patients visiting dental department, Noble Medical College and Teaching Hospital(NMCTH)

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted over a duration of 6 months todetermine prosthetic status and attitude of the patients towards replacement of the teeth among allpatients visiting Department of prosthodontics, NMCTH. The inclusion criteria was all patients withat least one missing tooth (excluding third molars) and subjects who gave consent for the study.All the Patients were provided with six close ended questionaire followed by clinical examination bya well trained investigator.

Result: The total number of participants was 297. Of them 157 were male and 140 were female. Mostfrequently encountered age group was 21-30 years Of these, 80.8% of individual were provided withproper information about replacement of teeth whereas 19.2 % were not. 70.7% individual said theywill replace only when they find difficulty in their daily activities. 64.6 % of individual wanted toreplace teeth for appearance, 20.5% for function and 14.8% for both appearance and function. 79.5 %stated financial problem and 18.2% stated lack of awareness regarding not replacement of teeth.

Conclusion: The patients’ attitudes and demand towards the replacement of missing teeth mightbe different from the clinicians’ assessment. We consider factors such as the preservation of naturalteeth and the maintenance of periodontal health as priority but patients tends to prioritize comfort inmastication and improvement of esthetics. Therefore, it is vital to investigate patients’ awareness, needand demand on prosthodontic treatment options.

Key words: Attitude, missing teeth, psychology, prosthesis


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