Caries status at the moment of total tooth extraction in a rural and an urban area in the Netherlands

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Abstract
Edentulousness varies with the availability and accessibilty of dental care. Comparing the dental status of groups of patients getting full dentures might give insight into the effect of different levels of supply of dental care on the dental condition. Therefore a research project has been started in the Netherlands in an urban and a rural area, having dentist-patient ratios of 1:2,500 and 1:5,700 respectively. In the urban and rural area an equal proportion had partial dentures prior to losing the last of their teeth. However, in the urban area 33% of the patients wearing partial dentures had full maxillary or mandibular dentures; in the rural area this figure was 73%. In the rural area a larger proportion had lost 21 or more teeth at the moment of total extraction. Therefore, it was concluded that in the urban area more effort was spent in maintaining the natural dentition. Looking at DMF-T figures and separate components of DMF-T, no differences could be established between people living in areas with a high and a low dentist-patient ratio.

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