Clinical quality of removable dentures provided by dentists, denturists and laboratory technicians

Abstracts on both these pages have been chosen and edited by Dr Trevor Watts

Abstract

Complete dentures provided illegally by technicians in Finland were found to have many more unsatisfactory characteristics in this blind study.

Main

Tuominen R J Oral Rehabil 2003; 30: 347–352

In Finland, denturists have been licensed for complete denture prosthesis since 1964; technicians, however, may only work with dentists as in UK. In this study, a sample of 362 men aged 64–92 yrs was examined.

Of 162 maxillary complete prostheses, dentists, denturists and technicians provided respectively 49, 100 and 13, and of 88 mandibular ones, 22, 59 and 7. Of 69 maxillary partial dentures, dentists provided 56, and denturists (illegally) and technicians, 13, and of 89 mandibular ones, respectively 60 and 29.

When examined blind for defects of retention, coverage, fit and stability, 90% of illegal maxillary complete dentures had defects, compared with 43% of legal ones, and respectively 86% and 59% of mandibular complete dentures. In the case of partial dentures, differences did not reach statistical significance. In multivariate analysis, the strongest determinant of denture defects was the age of the prosthesis. Dentures provided by technicians were also more often in need of a large repair.