A Study on the Life Expectancy of the Dental Prosthetic Restorations

치과보철물의 평균수명에 관한 연구

This study was performed to investigate the mean life expectancy of dental prosthetic restorations. The author has examined 352 dental prosthesis clinically and radiologically, and decided the success(survival) and failure(mortality) of the dental prosthesis. The dental prosthesis which had been treated in the Seoul National University Dental Hospital, two private clinics in Seoul, one university dental hospital, and two private clinics in local province were included in this study. The survival analysis using product limit estimator was used and the mean life expectancy of each type of dental prosthesis was calculated. The results were as follows : 1. The life expectancies were 10.5 years in gold crown and bridge, 8.5 years in porcelain fused to metal crown and bridge, 8.3 years in nonprecious metal crown and bridge, 8.1 years in removal partial denture, and 7.7 years in full denture. 2. The causes of mortality were in the order of dental caries(24.6%), fracture of dental prosthesis(19.2%), periodontal problems(18.6%), chronic chewing difficulty and dysfunction due to dental prosthesis(15.0%), excessive exposure of abutments due to the marginal defect of dental prosthesis(14.4%), abnormal occlusion due to severe attrition of artificial teeth in dentures(3.0%), periapical problems(2.4%), perforation of dental prosthesis(1.8%), and loose contacts with neighboring tooth(1.2%). 3. Among survival cases, 66.5% showed normal chewing ability and 31.9% showed partial chewing ability. However, 1.6% of them complained loss of chewing ability. 4. Among failure cases, 6.6% showed normal chewing ability and 38.9% showed partial chewing ability. However, 54.5% of them complained loss of chewing ability.