No abstract

There appears to be a relation between accumulation of plaque on complete maxillary dentures and denture stomatitis. The present index was introduced to assess the location and amount of plaque in some areas of the fitting surfaces of complete maxillary dentures. Scores were recorded in five defined areas on the denture base. Four ranked scores were used: 0 - no visible plaque, 1-plaque visible only by scraping on the denture base with a blunt instrument, 2-moderate accumulation of visible plaque, and 3-abundance of plaque. By summing up the scores from the five areas, the plaque was recorded on a scale from 0 to 15 points. The inter- and intra-reliability were tested for two examiners using the index on 50 complete maxillary dentures. Expressed in terms of Scott's Pi, inter-examiners agreement was 0.83, and intra-examiner 0.83 and 0.82 for examiners A and B, respectively. A simplification of the index was also presented. In this index the scores 0 and 1 were combined to score 0, -no visible plaque, and score 2 and 3 were combined to score 1, -visible plaque. Using this index, Scott's Pi was calculated to 0.91 for inter-examiner reliability. For the intra-examiners reliability Scott's Pi was calculated to 0.91 for examiner A and 0.89 for examiner B.

The frequency and distribution of complete dentures were studied in a population of 358 persons aged 20--69 living in a community in Northern Norway. Among the 83% who attended the investigation, 49% had a maxillary and 26% a mandibular denture. The occurrence of dentures increased with increasing age and with decreasing income and/or social class, while dentures were almost equally common in both sexes, when differences of age and income were taken into account. Of the participants between 50--69 years 39% had received their first maxillary denture at the age 17--24 years. In the age group 30--49 years the corresponding percentage was 20. Forty-four percent of the participants had maxillary dentures and 33% mandibular dentures which were older than 10 years. According to an index on the clinical evaluation of complete dentures as well as to the denture wearers' own opinion, the insufficiency of the dentures tended to increase with increasing age of the dentures. Sex, age, income and social class, however, were found to have only a minor effect on the age and the condition of the dentures as well as on the denture wearers' degree of satisfaction with their dentures. Persons who had natural mandibular teeth, tended to be less satisfied with their maxillary dentures than persons with complete dentures in both jaws.

The distribution of a number of self-reported symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction, parafunctions and treatment behaviour was studied by means of a questionnaire answered by 94% of a population group of 358 persons aged 20-69 years in Northern Norway. Nine subjects reported pain from the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) when opening their mouth and/or when chewing, while twenty-one subjects had clicking sounds in the TMJ. Seventeen persons had been grinding their teeth during the previous week. Only seven individuals had ever sought medical or dental advice because of TMJ disorder. Tooth grinding and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction were most common in young people, in people with twenty teeth of more and/or in people from high social classes, whereas differences according to sex and income were small. The low frequency of subjective symptoms of TMJ dysfunction and parafunctions in this population was related to demographical, social, dental and methodological influences.

The aim of this investigation was to study intra-assessor reliability and the relationship between individual and simultaneous evaluations when retention and stability of complete prostheses and the condition of the residual ridges were clinically assessed according to defined criteria. Further, inter-assessor reliability and the reliability of simultaneous evaluations were studied by evaluating the condition of the residual ridge on two occasions. Nine patients and three prosthodontists participated. Generally, the reliability levels were low and individual deviations from the simultaneous evaluations were common.