Cune M S, de Putter C, Hoogstraten J
Department of Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1995 Apr;23(2):110-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1995.tb00211.x.
Since 1989 implant dentistry in the Netherlands is a National Dental Insurance (NDI) benefit, thus reducing out-of-pocket expenditures for implant candidates considerably. A nationwide investigation was set up in order to evaluate quantitative, qualitative and financial effects of this new provision. The patient and treatment characteristics of 5410 edentulous implant candidates are discussed. Intensive monitoring of the usage of these new regulations facilitates health care policy making, including future planning. Over a 3 1/2 yr period, two out of every thousand totally edentulous NDI patients were treated in combination with dental implants. This number is being considered small, bearing in mind the number of edentulous patients in the Netherlands and the proportion of dissatisfied denture wearers. Demographic data, prosthetic and pre-prosthetic surgical history reveal that these patients, mostly female and middle-aged, experience severe denture-related problems. In the majority of cases the implants are placed by an oral surgeon and the suprastructure is made by a general dentist or at a centre for special dental care. The treatment itself mostly consists of an implant retained overdenture on two or four permucosal implants and a bar-construction.
