Decision making among general dentists in Pakistan: the choice between fixed and removable partial denture

Background: it is well known that there are great variations between general dentists regarding the provision of prosthodontics services. however,little is known about the factors that influence the number of these services delivered. there are studies on frequencies of different prosthodontics services but to our knowledge,none focusing on the dentist or patient related factors involved in the provision of prosthodontics services. aim: to analyze how dentists evaluate the importance of various factors related to a treatment choice between fixed and removable partial dentures. methods: this descriptive case series study was carried out in the department of prosthodontics,de'montmorency college of dentistry,lahore between 1st october 2007 to 31st march,2008. this study included sixty general dentists in private sector. the typical prosthodontics clinical scenario by using paper patient case technique was used. the questionnaire had treatment choices with a series of factors related to clinical decision making for each of the cases. each factor of the series was subjected to the vas response ratings by the general dentist with alternatives coded in 8 equidistant steps,ranging from unimportant (1) to decisively important. results: there were 47 males and 13 females,average age 37.5±7.5 years with an average experience of 10.3±5.6 years. abutment condition and patient's financial condition were having the highest average scores of 5.7±1.3 and 5.7±1.4 respectively. the lowest average score were obtained for time required for treatment & no of visits required of 4.6±1.5&4.7±1.3 respectively. conclusion: the clinical situation presented in this study,the choice between a fixed and a removable partial denture showed that patient's financial condition and condition of possible abutment tooth have high importance.