Prevalence Of Partial Edentulism and its Association to Age

Partial edentulism is a state of missing one or multiple teeth in the dental arch and can be due to several reasons which includes dental caries, periodontal disease, and trauma causing deterioration of general health and lifestyle of an individual. Few studies have been done regarding the behavior of the patients toward the consequences of partial edentulism and span of partial edentulism, but still, there is insufficiency of information regarding the clinical findings among various age groups of partially edentulous patients .The partial edentulism pattern has been observed globally in different populations.The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of partial edentulism based on kennedy's classification, evaluate if age is associated with partial edentulism. A retrospective evaluation was conducted in the Department of Prosthodontics, Saveetha Dental college by examining the patient records.The study sample consisted of 400 patients who were partially edentulous.Parameters recorded were age ,kennedy's classification.Chi square test for independence between Partial edentulism and age. Chi square value of the test statistic is 8.708 with corresponding p value 0.033 which is statistically significant denoting that there exists an association between age and partial edentulism among the study population. The most prevalent type of partial edentulism is Kennedy's class III with partial edentulism more common in 31-50 years age group.