Characteristics of dentally successful and dentally unsuccessful adults.

A method is described for identifying two groups of people from a dentate sample according to the prognosis for their retaining their dentition. Dentally successful people were expected to retain teeth into old age. Dentally unsuccessful people were expected to lose all their teeth prematurely. The method appeared valid, as more of the dentally unsuccessful had teeth extracted at the course of treatment immediately prior to a dental survey than dentally successful adults. Furthermore, this trend was also observed in the 3 yr after the survey. A restoratively orientated dental service was unable to satisfactorily meet the treatment and psychological needs of many of the dentally unsuccessful.