[The status of the prosthodontic care of poor adults in Zurich].

This study wants to give an overview of the prothetical state of treatment of low-income, above-50-year-old patients, who called for examination and treatment at the Cantonal Public Dental Clinic of Zurich. An average of 11.5 own teeth, excluding wisdom teeth, were found among the 151 test persons, whose mean age was 71 years. 30 persons (19.9%) were edentulous. Removable dentures were found significantly more often than fixed reconstructions: 72.5% of the test persons were equipped with removable dentures and 17.2% with fixed bridges. More than 50% of the examined dentures showed hard and/or soft accumulation of plaque and calculus. 43% of the anchor teeth of all partial dentures and 16.3% of all bridge pillars showed carious lesions. About two-thirds of the "denture patients" were not satisfied with their removable denture and wished an adjustment or a new one. These results point out a big need for prothetical treatment among the examined patient group.