PROSTHETIC POSSIBILITIES USING ENDOSSEAL IMPLANTS AS ANCHORAGE - AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC-STUDY IN 65-YEAR-OLD SUBJECTS

In order to evaluate the possibility of using endosseal implants (ITI Dental Implant System(R)) and implant-retained prostheses for 65-year- old patients from a medium-sized Finnish city, 431 such patients were examined by means of panoramic radiographs. The population represents 61% of the total age group in the city (born in 1923). The possibility to construct a prosthesis, anchored on implants, was evaluated in thr ee different groups. It was shown that in group I (edentulous maxilla and mandible, 256 patients) all male and 97% of female subjects could have been treated with implant-retained overdentures in the lower jaw. Corresponding figures in the upper jaw were 62% for males and 59% for females. In patients with edentulous maxilla and dentulous or partial ly edentulous mandible (group II, 84 subjects) implant-retained overde nture in the maxilla could have been possible in 52% of male and 43% o f female participants. In subjects with own teeth left in both jaws (g roup III, 91 participants) some kind of implant-retained bridge or sin gle implants could have been constructed in 70% in maxilla and in 92% in mandible.