Knowledge and Attitude towards Prosthodontic Rehabilitation and Utilization of Dental Services by Central India Population of Jabalpur City, India

Author(s):

Shreya Gupta, Sneha S Mantri and Abhilasha Bhasin*

Introduction: Impairment of oral functions and masticatory efficiency is a result of a loss of teeth. Due to lack of awareness about importance of prosthodontic replacement, mostly patients do not seek treatment immediately after tooth loss. Patients with different educational and socioeconomic background may have different reasons for not replacing teeth after extraction such as financial issues, lack of time and motivation. Materials and Methodology: A cross sectional questionnaire based survey was conducted at Hitkarini Dental College and Hospital, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and surrounding population. The total study samples were 480. The subjects were randomly selected from patients reporting to the institute for teeth replacement. The sample population consisted of 278 males and 202 females A selfdesigned questionnaire containing total 14 questions, out of which 8 were knowledge based and remaining 6 were attitude based questions was used for obtaining data. The response to questionnaire was ranked according to Likert Scale. The collected data was put into SPSS software to be analyzed. Results: As the result indicated among the study population reported that 267 participants in the study population has insufficient knowledge which included men and women and 213 had sufficient knowledge about the various treatment options while 58.3% population had positive attitude for replacement of missing teeth and 74.8% population feels that oral hygiene maintenance for artificial prosthesis is must. Conclusion: From the analysis, it has come to the fore that the knowledge level might vary among the subjects based on demographic factors like income, education, gender and age. However, their attitude towards dental and prosthetic treatment is positive especially in cases involving no surgical procedure as it enhances their appearance and functionality. But positive attitude towards treatment does not amount to opting for treatment.