Author(s): Ziad N AL-Dwairi
Aim: In Jordan, there is no available studies that investigated the association between complete edentulism and socioeconomic factors. The aim of this study therefore was to assess the need and demand for complete and partial dentures by Jordanian adults and assess the relationship between socio-demographic variables with complete edentulism. Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of 600 patients. A pilot-tested questionnaire was presented to the participants The variable studied were: age, gender, education status, economic status, smoking status, dental health insurance and dental preventive attitude. Results: The results showed that 173 patients (28.9%) were allocated in the 51-60 age bands in contrast to 73 subjects (12.16%) from the 61-70 age group. Among the 600 subjects, 403 (67.17%) needed complete dentures (308 needed upper and lower, 95 needed single complete dentures). Removable partial dentures were needed by 197 (32.8%) of subjects. Of the patients with no education112 of 308 patients applied for upper and lower complete dentures compared to 18/197 subjects who needed removable partial dentures and 20/95 subjects who needed single complete dentures. Among the 259 subjects with low monthly income of 150 JD, 210 (68.2%) subjects needed upper and lower complete dentures, There was no significant difference in denture demand among patients with dental health insurance (p>0.05). Sixty-five subjects of the 348 with no preventive attitude needed partial dentures in a significant comparison to 283 (81%) who applied for complete dentures (p<0.05). Over 65% of the subjects were smokers with over 74% of them required removable complete dentures. Conclusion: It is concluded that in addition to addressing the non-disease factors, dental education should be targeted at the un-educated population, and low-income groups to reduce the rate of total edentulism.
