Complete edentulism and related factors among patients visiting prosthodontics department clinic of School of Dentistry - University of Sulaimani

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of complete edentulism and associated factors among patients visiting prosthodontics department clinic of School of dentistry Sulaimani University, in order to plan for future oral health care provisions for the society, collecting epidemiological data on oral health particularly related to prosthodontics and its related issues. Materials and Methods: The samples comprised 280 completely edentulous patients, who attended University of Sulaimani School of dentistry prosthodontics department clinic, patients questioner filled out which covered their age, gender, reasons for edentulousness, medical history, and presence of previous denture and the reason of not using it. The patients were divided in to four age groups; Group I (40-49) years, Group II (50-59) years, Group III (60-69) years, and Group IV 70 years and above. The relationship between the variables were investigated then evaluated. Results: The results showed that 155 (55.4%) of the patients were males and 125 (44.6%) of the patients were females. The majority of the patients were from age group III (60-69) years, while minority of the patient were from age Group I (40-49). Tooth decay was the major cause of edentulousness (75.4%), while periodontitis constitutes only (24.65) of the cases. Among the total number of participants only (35%) of them were have systemic problems, 61.2% suffered from hypertension, 29.6% were diabetic, and only 9.2% of the patients have cardiovascular problem. Finally, the results revealed that from 280 patients 164 (58.6 %) have previous dentures, poor retention (48.2%), fracture (31.7), tooth wear (12.2%), discomfort (4.2%), and stability (3.7%); were the reason of not using these dentures. Conclusions: An effective relationship between age, gender, tooth decay, periodontal disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease with edentulism is present.