Awareness about prosthodontic treatment for missing natural teeth among patients seen at afid

ABSTRACT

Loss of teeth significantly impairs oral functions and masticatory efficiency. Due to lack of awareness about importance of prosthodontic replacement, mostly patients do not seek treatment immediately after tooth loss. Patients with different educational and socioeconomic background may have different reasons for not replacing teeth after extraction such as financial issues, lack of time and lack of motivation. The objective of this study was to determine the awareness level about prosthodontic treatment for missing natural teeth among patients seen at prosthodontic department of AFID in Rawalpindi. The study was carried out on 137 subjects over a period of almost six months. Based on the criteria of awareness defined in methodology, 19 patients [13.9%] had low awareness level, 89 [65%] had medium awareness level and 29 [21.2%] had high level of awareness. There was significant association of awareness level with gender [p=0.009], education [p=0.00] and occupation [p=0.001]. It was concluded that patients visiting AFID have medium level of awareness about prosthodontic treatment options. Dentists were the most common source of information for the patients in terms of education about different treatment options available to replace the missing teeth