Is prosthodontic treatment age-dependent in patients 60 years and older in Public Dental Services?

Prosthodontic treatment is a common procedure for the elderly as tooth loss is a reality in old age. Dentists take care of increasingly older patients with physiological age manifesting as cognitive impairment, frailty or multiple chronic diseases or who have side effects of medicines. We evaluated how patients' age affects prosthodontic treatment choice and whether we could identify the age when a change in practice occurs. In addition, we determined how common the treatment method of fixed prostheses is among patients aged 60 years or over in Public Dental Services (PDS) and how common rehabilitation of dentition with new dentures is compared with repair of existing dentures. Our data cover all patients aged 60 years and older (n = 130,060) treated in Helsinki PDS in 2007-2012. Data were aggregated into seven groups: 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, and 90 years and over. During the 6-year period, the mean annual number of the population was about 114,000 and the mean annual number of patients treated with prosthodontics 1700. Prosthodontic treatment choices (repair, removable prosthodontics, fixed prostheses, fibre-reinforced composite fixed prostheses) vary by age; the older the patient, the rarer fixed or fibre-reinforced composite fixed prostheses and removable prostheses and the more frequent repairs (P < 0.001). Denture repair was virtually the only treatment that patients over 90 years received. Based on our results, the age at which prosthodontic treatment practices in PDS change is around 70 years. Beyond this age, fixed prosthodontic treatment modalities are very rare and repairs are more common.