Types of dental prostheses and level of awareness of team work in dental medicine – from the patients’ point of view

Abstract

Dental health is an essential part of the general health of citizens. According to information from the Bulgarian Dental Association, about 2 million Bulgarians have at least one tooth removed. A total of 20% of the population over the age of 60 have had all their upper teeth removed, 17% have no teeth in their lower jaw and 13% have no teeth in their mouth. Dental care associated with the development of structures for restoration of dental crowns and tooth rows is carried out by dental team (dentist, dental technician, dental assistant or nurse).

Our goal was to investigate the presence and type of dental prostheses and awareness of team work in this area. To achieve the goal we used the following methods: study of literary sources and documents; sociological method - anonymous survey (via self-developed questionnaire). Data processing was performed with Microsoft Office Excel 2007, and graphical and comparative analysis were used to present the results. Based on the results, we found that: a relatively small part of the interviewed people indicate the presence of non-removable or removable dental prosthesis structures because of dental crowns and tooth rows defects; the vast majority of the respondents are not aware of the fact that dental services related to the manufacturing of dentures are performed by a team (dentist, dental technician and dental assistant/nurse).