Are UK graduates equipped with the skill set required to meet the demands of the UK's edentulous population?

Frequency of Complete and Removable Partial Denture Treatment in the Primary Health Centres in Three Different Regions of Kosovo from 2002 to 2013

Introduction

Edentulism and prosthodontic care are very common, especially in the elderly. The study investigated the treatment with complete dentures (CDs) and acrylic removable partial dentures (ARPDs) among people receiving new prosthodontic treatment in the Primary Health Centres of the three regions in Kosovo from 2002 to 2013.

Methods

The data on ARPDs delivery and CDs delivery was obtained from the archives of primary health centres from three Kosovo regions (Prizren, Peje, Ferizaj) from 2002 to 2013. The data was analysed concerning year of treatment, type of dentures, jaw, age, gender and urban or rural origin of the patients. The trend of treatment was determined, and the binomial logistic regression model was used for predicting odds of ARPD versus CD treatment by year of treatment and patient characteristics.

Results

From 2002 to 2013, 9,478 patients received 11,655 CDs and 4,401 ARPDs. Delivery of CDs significantly increased by 57.45 dentures per year (R2=0.609) and delivery of ARPDs by 30.39 dentures per year (R2=0.569). Each year the odds for ARPD versus CD increased by 4.2% (95% CI: 3.0%-5.4%). Younger patients have higher odds for ARPD rather than CD and odds for ARPD are decreasing as the age of patients rises. The gender, residence, and jaw all had a significant impact on prosthodontic treatment too.

Conclusions

In Primary Health Centres of Kosovo, there is a trend for higher frequencies of both dentures (more obvious for ARPD), and the frequency is highly dependent on the age of patients.