Tooth loss awareness and reasons for non-replacement of missing teeth among nurses at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Objective: Full complement and replacement of lost teeth improves oral health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to assess the level of awareness of factors that can prevent premature loss of teeth and the reason for non-replacement of missing/lost teeth among nurses in a tertiary health institution. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, 251 nurses of the Jos University Teaching Hospital participated. Self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection. Analysis of data was done with IBM SPSS version 23.0. Results: The mean age of the 251 nurses was 38±9.88. 174(69.3%) were females while 77(30.7%) were males. Out of 91(36.3%) that had missing teeth, 16(17.6%) actually replaced their missing teeth with the majority of them representing 81.3% adopting removable acrylic partial denture as modality. Among the 75(82.4%) that did not replace their missing teeth, the reason for the non-replacement by the majority- 40.0% was that they didn't feel replacement was necessary. Conclusion: The awareness level on factors that can prevent premature loss of teeth was observed to be high among the participants, but many have missing teeth that needed replacement. Majority did not replace their missing teeth as a result of low level of awareness of the consequences and probably due to financial challenges and because of the non-coverage of prosthetic treatments by the National Health Insurance Scheme 'NHIS' in Nigeria