engleski

Prosthetic therapy needs in Croatian Military Personnel

The aim of this study was to provide current information about oral health and prosthetic therapy needs in Croatian military personnel, active duty soldiers as well as regular soldiers. Since there is no independent military health care system existing at the moment, data obtained will also serve for a long-term planning of dental health care capacities in the army, especially prosthodontic departments and teams. Participants in this study were active duty soldiers and regular soldiers of the Croatian army. Total number of participants was 399, and all the data were registered in questionnaire, taking into consideration anamnestic data and dental status data with the special notes considering prosthetic therapy needs and already existing prosthetic appliances. Active duty soldiers had prosthetic appliances in 30.65% cases, and out of this percentage only 47.54 % were marked as satisfactory. This group of participants had also a great need for prosthetic therapy, as high as 61.81% (42.21 % fixed prosthodontics, 3.02 % removable, and 16.58 % combined prosthodontics). The majority of the participants (86.36%) were financially able to participate in the costs of the prosthetic appliances but were looking for the cost-effective constructions. Regular soldiers had much better dental status, thus the need for prosthetic therapy was 30% of the cases (29% fixed, and 1% removable prosthodontics). They had prosthetic appliances in 8% of the cases and 50% of them were marked as satisfactory. From the data obtained it is obvious that there is a great need for prosthetic therapy in the Croatian military personnel. That should be taken into consideration while reorganising and developing dental health care as a part of the independent military health system satisfying NATO standards. Due to the needs, specialised prosthetic teams would have an important role in the endeavor to provide more intensive care for the specific population such as military personnel.

oral health, prosthetic therapy need, military personnel, prosthetic appliance

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