engleski

Knowledge and awareness of dental implants among elderly people in Croatia

The use of inserted dental implants is growing every day in order to improve retention and stability of complete removable dental prostheses, especially in the mandible. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge and awareness of dental implants among elderly people wearing complete removable dental prostheses. This study, based on the answers from the questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study, included 301 participants wearing complete removable dental prostheses from elderly care homes with average age of 74 years. Results: The awareness of dental implants was statistically significant (p<0.05) affected by the participants’ age, residence size, and their level of education. Participants from younger group (x=70 years) had heard about dental implants (56.5%, p<0.05), and believed in retaining possibility of complete removable dental prostheses using dental implants (56.1%, p<0.05). Among participants coming from the places with up to 10, 000 residents were more of those who did not hear about dental implants (59.4%, p<0.05), and among participants with completed college/university or high school were a higher number of participants who had heard about dental implants (82.4%, p<0.05). Although more than half of the participants had heard of dental implants, it didn’t mean they were well informed about the procedure of implant insertion and the costs for such a treatment. In conclusion, awareness of dental implants in studied participants was insufficient. Obtained results also urge the need for better education and the provision of proper information to elderly people about dental implants and implant treatment options.

dental implants ; prostheses and implants ; aged ; awareness of dental implants ; costs of implants

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