engleski

Consumption of the prosthodontic appliances in geriatric population in Croatia

Introduction. The ability of the geriatric population to adjust to the „ third age“ depends on the will of the society and the community to provide services and to support this dependent population. In the Republic of Croatia, like in many European countries, some age categories of patients, like the elderly, have some facilities in consumption of the prosthodontic appliances through the National Health Insurance Service. The aim of investigation was to present which type of particular prosthodontic appliances is more frequently used by elderly in relation to different regions of Croatia. Materials and methods.Data of 13 prosthodontic appliances and its distribution through the 20 districts of Croatia were collected from Croatian Institute for Health Insurance. Population size living in those districts was obtained from the National Institute for Statistics. Percentages of prosthodontic appliance deliveries through years 2001-2005 and by districts were calculated. Patients were divided into three age groups ; 65-74, 75-84 and over 85 years. Results. Total of 257, 713 patients received 320, 991 prosthodontic appliances during a four year period. The most frequently used prosthodontic appliance in all age groups were complete dentures with average of 31.2% (Figure 2), while the least used were acrylic resin crowns with average of 4.9% (Figure 1). Individual metal post-and-cores in the 75-84 yrs old in 2002 was 3.2% and in 2003 rose to 4.5% (Figure 4). Full metal crowns in the oldest group of patients demonstrated constant trend of increase ; from 1.8% in 2002 to 2% in 2005 (Figure 5). Incidence of complete dentures in the 65-74 yrs group decreased, from 34.5% in 2002, to 30.6% in 2005 (Figure 3). Conclusion. Although the most frequently used appliances were complete dentures, increasing percentage of crowns in the oldest age group indicated decreasing number of edentulousness. The largest number of prosthodontic appliances was made in the region of Zagreb / the capital / because of its unproportional size when compared to other Croatian districts.(Figure 2.)

prosthodontic appliancs; elderly; health insurance

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