Prosthodontic decision making among general dentists in Sweden. II: The choice between fixed and removable partial dentures

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe how dentists evaluated v arious items related to a treatment choice between fixed partial dentures ( FPD) and removable partial dentures (RPD), and to determine if the differen ces could be explained by dentist-related variables ("social and demographi c attributes," "job situation," and "attitudes"). Materials and Methods: Qu estionnaires were sent to a random sample of 2,059 Swedish general dentists , with a response rate of 76%. In the questionnaire, the choice between FPD s and RPDs in a clinical situation was presented. The dentists were asked t o mark on 14-item visual analogue scales the relative importance he or she gave the different items. The items were analyzed through principal compone nts analysis, where a 3-factor solution was obtained; the factors were labe led as "time," "health," and "comfort." The factors were run as dependent v ariables in multiple regression analyses. Results: Great individual variati ons were seen, but the differences between groups of dentists were small. T he items evaluated as most important were "patient's wish," "condition of p ossible abutment teeth," and "prognosis for delivered treatment." Male dent ists gave significantly greater importance to the "health" factor compared to female dentists. The attitudinal variable "patient information" showed s ignificant associations with all 3 factors in the multivariate models. Conc lusion: Great individual differences were seen regarding the importance of the various items. In multiple regression models, several independent varia bles showed significant associations, most interestingly the attitudinal va riable "patient information." Low explanatory (R-2) values indicate that it is necessary to capture more variables of importance for the prosthodontic decision-making process.