Abstract
Purpose: It is known that complete dentures that are stable in patients’ mouths resemble each other in peripheral shape. Moreover, it is believed that veteran dentists have similar images of how the borders of complete dentures should look. This study aimed to clarify whether prosthodontists with more than 10 years of clinical experience could effectively evaluate the posterior borders of complete dentures via photos according to their ideal image, and whether they have a set picture in their minds of how an optimal posterior border of complete dentures should look.
Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients with complete dentures from private clinics in Niigata City were selected from survey participants to examine the relationship between oral and general health status. A dentist not involved in evaluating the dentures’ periphery photographed the polished and impression surfaces. Ten prosthodontists with more than 10 years of clinical experience evaluated the dentures’posterior borders based on the photographs. Cohen’s kappa coefficient was used to analyze variations in levels of agreement among evaluations. The concordance rate for each denture was calculated.
Results: Among all 45 combinations, nine substantially coincident matches (20%) appeared between the dentists’ evaluations based on the shape of the lower posterior border. However, with regard to the upper posterior border evaluations, only one substantially coincident match was evident. In 16.7% of both upper and lower dentures there was 100% agreement.
Conclusions: These results show that if the posterior borders of complete dentures are assessed based solely on observation, agreement among assessment ratios of experienced dentists is limited. However, the fact that 16.7% of dentures showed 100% agreement suggests the possibility that experienced dentists share a common image of how complete dentures should look.
