Prevalence of edentulousness, prosthetic need and panoramic radiographic findings of totally and partially edentulous patients in a sample of Turkish population -

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the panoramic radiographic findings of totally and partially edentulous patients and to reveal the significant role of radiographic evaluations before prosthodontic treatment in a sample of Turkish population. Methods: A total of 845 patients referred to our hospital for removable dentures were selected. All of the patients were totally or partially edentulous. The patients had clinical and radiographic examinations. All of the radiographs were evaluated for significant radiographic findings as follows: retained root fragments, embedded teeth, radio-lucencies, radio-opacities, maxillary sinus position and the location of the mental foramen. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Positive radiographic findings were found in 40.47% of the patients who referred for removable prosthesis. Totally 84 retained roots were found in 74 patients; 64 (%76.2) of them have only one, and 10 (%11.9) have two retained roots. A total of 49 impacted teeth were found in 42 patients. According to our evaluation, 4.1% of patients (n = 35; female 17, male 18) have one; 0.8% of patients (n = 7; female 3, male 4) have two embedded teeth. Migrated sinus floor to the alveolar ridge was the most observed finding (37.5%), followed by resorption of alveolar ridge (4.5% of the patients, n = 38) in mental region. Moreover, 16 soft tissue calcifications, 12 osteosclerosis and 11 foreign bodies were found. Conclusions: Radiographic examination is crucial for pre-prosthetic evaluation on partially or totally edentulous patients that should considered as the first step to avoid the repetition of prosthetic rehabilitation, time waste, prestige loss and high treatment costs.