• Rumpai Rochanakit

Objectives  The purpose of this study is to evaluate the patient’s satisfaction with efficiency of the unilateral removable partial dentures which were fabricated to replace 1-2 missing posterior teeth and to serve as an additional resource for dentists in determining whether to use this kind of denture for their patients.

Materials and Methods  The questionnaires containing the following four parts : patient’s general information, patient’s dental history, patient’s satisfaction with denture and patient’s attitude for future denture. The questionnaires were mailed out to 150 patients who had used the unilateral removable partial dentures which were made by the researcher. The results were calculated in percentage and correlated between patient’s general satisfaction with patient’s other satisfactions statistically analysed by Pearson chi-square test (α = 0.05)

Results  121 questionnaires (80.7%) were returned. It was determined that 50.4% of patients had completed the Bachelor degree. The mean age was 50.5 years, and average monthly salary was 30,966 Baht. The total number of the unilateral removable partial denture was 166. The results revealed satisfaction with the denture were ranked as fair (41.3%). The correlation between patient’s general satisfaction with patient’s other satisfactions was statistically significance (α = 0.05). It was found that 75 of 121 respondents (62%) would continue using this kind of denture in the future.

Conclusion  The patients were satisfied with efficiency of the unilateral removable partial denture as favorably. Most of them would continue to utilize this kind of denture in the future. So, it would be one choice of treatments for dentist in fabricate this kind of denture for their patients in suitable cases.

(CU Dent J 2002;25:9-17)