Preference of Gingival Retraction Methods - Mechanical Over Chemico Mechanical Method in University Based Setting - A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Tooth preparation is done in the treatment of fixed partial dentures. It is necessary to obtain a good amount of gingival retraction for accuracy in marginal positioning of prosthesis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of gingival retraction by mechanical and chemico mechanical methods. A retrospective data collection was done by reviewing 86000 case sheets from Saveetha dental college. Study period was about 10 months. Inclusion criteria & exclusion criteria were available. Parameters were tabulated and analysed using SPSS software. There were 899 patients treated for fixed partial dentures in the study period. Among these, 398 were males and 501 were females. Chi square t test was performed and p value was found to be 0.02 and the results are significant as p value is <0.05. Also, 95% of both the population irrespective of age and gender underwent mechanical method of gingival retraction. This study is in consensus with existing literature that gingival retraction can be efficiently obtained through the mechanical method. Whether systemic health issues or socioeconomic reasons played a role in the acceptance of choice of treatment needs to be further evaluated with larger sample size and multicentre studies among our population.