PATIENTS' PERCEPTIONS ON COMPLETE DENTURE WEARING

Introduction. The purpose of this study was to assess the feedback of denture wearers, their perceptions related to teeth absence and to complete denture wearing, and to investigate the relationships between gender, residence and patients' perceptions. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study, based on a self-administered pre-validated questionnaire, filled in by 162 denture wearers, residents of central Transylvania, Romania, was performed. The questionnaire included questions about patients' perception related to teeth absence and denture wearing. Results and discussion. 61.8% of the patients perceived teeth absence as a medium or high discomfort; 94.1% of them considered the denture very important; 51.6% were very satisfied and 40.4% were satisfied with their denture; 27.3% reported difficulties in mastication and 14.8% in speech. Statistically significant differences were found. Conclusions. Tooth loss causes discomfort for the patient, while denture wearing is very important; most of the respondents were satisfied with their dentures.