2006 年 19 巻 1 号 p. 14-24
A statistical survey was conducted in a total of 2,122 new patients seen in our Oral Implant Clinic during the period from January 1997 to December 2003 to assess their demographic characteristics and trends and to give clinical considerations. The following results were obtained.
1. There were more female patients than male patients in the population with the male-to-female ratio of 2:3. The mean age of all the patients was 50.2 years.
2. Including those referred by dentists in different departments of the university hospital and those personally introduced by university personnel, 73% of the patients were referred to our clinic.
3. As to the reason for their visit, 81% of the patients hoped to receive dental implants while 14% had complaints about their dental implants provided by other dentists.
4. In 1,728 patients expecting dental implants, 1,002 had missing teeth in the maxilla and 1,010 in the mandible.
5. The most frequently observed pattern of missing teeth was loss of posterior teeth, more particularly unilateral free-end saddle, which accounted for 39%. Single-tooth missing cases amounted to 13% of the jaws of the patients hoping to receive implants, among which a single missing maxillary anterior tooth was most frequently seen.
6. Among 2,012 jaws of the patients expecting dental implants, 120 upper jaws (12.0%) and 337 lower jaws (33.4%) had already been treated by dental implants.