THE DENTISTS AND THE SERVICES THEY PROVIDED FOR TWO POPULATIONS; COMMENTS ON METHODOLOGY OF STUDY

EASY?—Dr. Harry L. Draker points out the pitfalls in an interview-survey and confirmation by dentists' records.     

Prosthetic dental restorations in Swedish samples: prevalence and agreement between self-report,clinical findings,and influence on quality of life

Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental prosthetic restorations in an adult population, to study the agreement between self-reports and clinical findings of prosthetic restorations, and to study answers from a questionnaire in relation to the prevalence of prosthetic restorations.

Material and methods: A questionnaire was sent to a sample of 10,000 adults. A further sample of 1000 individuals was invited to answer the questionnaire and also participate in a clinical study. The agreement between self-report and clinical findings was analyzed, as were the associations between prosthetic restorations and questionnaire responses, using the chi² test.

Results: A total of 40% of the sample had fixed dental prostheses (FDP), 2.7% had removable dentures. The agreement between self-report and clinical findings was 93%. 34.7% of the individuals with no prosthetic restorations were university graduates and 4% of individuals with removable complete dentures. Oral health had the greatest impact on the quality of life of younger individuals with FDP, with an OHIP-14 (Oral Health Impact Profile) score of 7.3 for the age group 20–39 years compared to 4.9 for the age group 65–89 years. Conclusion: The questionnaire method can be a cost-effective way to determine the prevalence of prosthetic restorations.