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Introduction Edentulism and prosthodontic care are very common, especially in the elderly. The study investigated the treatment with complete dentures (CDs) and acrylic removable partial dentures (ARPDs) among people receiving new prosthodontic treatment in the Primary Health Centres of the three regions in Kosovo from 2002 to 2013. Methods The data on ARPDs delivery and CDs delivery was obtained from the archives of primary health centres from three Kosovo regions (Prizren, Peje, Ferizaj) from 2002 to 2013. The data was analysed concerning year of treatment, type of dentures, jaw, age, gender and urban or rural origin of the patients. The trend of treatment was determined, and the binomial logistic regression model was used for predicting odds of ARPD versus CD treatment by year of treatment and patient characteristics. Results From 2002 to 2013, 9,478 patients received 11,655 CDs and 4,401 ARPDs. Delivery of CDs significantly increased by 57.45 dentures per year (R2=0.609) and delivery of ARPDs by 30.39 dentures per year (R2=0.569). Each year the odds for ARPD versus CD increased by 4.2% (95% CI: 3.0%–5.4%). Younger patients have higher odds for ARPD rather than CD and odds for ARPD are decreasing as the age of patients rises. The gender, residence, and jaw all had a significant impact on prosthodontic treatment too. Conclusions In Primary Health Centres of Kosovo, there is a trend for higher frequencies of both dentures (more obvious for ARPD), and the frequency is highly dependent on the age of patients.

ObjectiveTo evaluate and compare the impact of two removable partial dentures (acrylic removable partial denture [ARPD] and metallic removable partial denture [MRPD]) on periodontal tissues of the remaining teeth in the first 12 months of denture use.Materials and MethodsThis prospective clinical study included 40 patients, of which 20 received ARPDs, 20 received MRPDs, nine in the maxilla, and 11 in the mandible each. The patients were 45–65 years old; 24 were females, and 16 were males. Patients’ demographic details, clinical indicators of periodontal complications, and biochemical measurement of Hs‐C‐reactive protein (CRP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were considered. One‐way analysis of covariance and Friedman were used to measure the differences in clinical periodontal parameters between the two types of dentures.ResultsThe significant findings were: Plaque index (PLAQ) scores for abutment teeth were higher in MRPD wearers (mean = 12.15) than ARPD wearers (mean = 10.45), whereas ARPD users had significantly higher mean bleeding on probing (BOP) values (mean = 1.5) than MRPD users (mean = 0.00); mobility of abutment teeth showed no significant differences; timeline comparisons showed a significant increase in the percentage of nonabutment teeth mobility in ARPD users (p = .028) compared with MRPD users over the same follow‐up period (p = .102).ConclusionsFor a short‐term period of 1 year, periodontal and mobility parameters have no significant impact on the abutment and nonabutment teeth of ARPD and MRPD users. Moreover, biochemical markers (CRP and ALP) for periodontal inflammation exhibited no significant difference in both types of dentures.

Objectives The objective of this retrospective research was to investigate the prevalence and the association between dental anomalies and malocclusion in a subset of Kosovo's population. Materials and Methods This retrospective descriptive study was conducted by recruiting 557 patients; 215 (38.6%) were males and 342 (61.4%) were females. The age range was from 7 to 44 years. The exclusion criteria were employed for the sample size, and 307 of 864 patients were excluded from the study. Malocclusion groups were divided through Angle's classification, and dental anomalies were defined according to the literature. Pretreatment panoramic radiographs, medical and dental history, study casts, and photographs were included to categorize malocclusion and identify dental anomalies (i.e., hypodontia, ectopic eruption, impaction, and diastema). The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS software version 16.0. The chi-squared test was utilized to calculate the frequency and percentages of malocclusion and dental anomalies. A p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Five hundred and fifty-seven patient records from 2015 to 2020 were included. An increased prevalence of ectopic eruption (24.8%) was found in this study, whereas the least common was hypodontia (7.0%). The most common malocclusion was class I (46.9%). Vertical plane malocclusion demonstrated that 31.4% had a deep bite and 9.5% had an open bite. Most dental anomalies were significantly associated with class I malocclusion and least associated with class III malocclusion. Transverse malocclusion exhibited that 14% had anterior crossbite and 10.8% had posterior crossbite. Posterior crossbite was significantly less in the class III malocclusion group (p = 0.019). Conclusion The prevalence of the selected dental anomalies was overall high in our study; 557 of 864 patients faced dental anomalies. An association was seen between malocclusion and dental anomalies in the Kosovan population, especially with class I malocclusion. Deep bite was prominent in the vertical plane malocclusion, whereas anterior crossbite was the most common finding in the transverse plane. Anterior crowding was prevalent in the maxilla and posterior crowding in the mandible.

This study aimed to determine the effect of metal base removable partial dentures (MRPDs) and acrylic base removable partial dentures (ARPDs) on oral health-related quality of life.The study was conducted on 40 patients. Twenty received ARPDs (nine in the maxilla and eleven in the mandible), and twenty received MRPDs (nine in the maxilla and eleven in the mandible). The patients were 4565 years old. The impact of RPDs on the patient's quality of life was analysed with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-ALB14) questionnaire.The differences in OHIP-14 between the two dentures at three different time points were estimated. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software, version 22 (IBM), and a p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.The OHIP-ALB14 score for both denture types was high at T1 and then remarkably decreased at T2 (p<0.05) and T3 (p<0.05), with no significant differences between MRPDs and ARPDs users. For ARPD users, the satisfaction level significantly increased (<0.001) after one year for the dimensions of Physical Pain, Functional limitation, and Psychological Discomfort. Whereas, for MRPD users, satisfaction level significantly increased (<0.001) in the dimensions of Functional limitation, Psychological Discomfort, and Psychological Disability after a year of denture use.The findings from this study can be taken as the first step towards future research with a longer post-operative follow-up that can analyse the differences between dentures if any.The comparative analysis between ARPD and MRPD and their impact on the oral soft tissues will help prosthodontists reach accurate treatment decisions.This study has not been conducted in the region of Kosovo before. Moreover, the engineers manufacturing dental prostheses will know about the effect of their product on oral health.

The aim of the study was to propose a method for three-dimensional evaluation and visualisation of mucosa thickness and mucosa thickness changes and to validate it in four different software implementations. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and digitised mandibular impression, i.e., optical scan, of five patients treated with a mandibular distal extension removable partial denture were acquired at baseline (T0) and 1-year follow-up (T1). CBCT images were automatically segmented and then superimposed with a corresponding optical scan and within a patient. To obtain mucosa thickness changes in the T0-T1 interval, firstly, the distances between T0 and T1 models were computed for mucosa surface, representing surface changes (dSurface) and bone surface, representing bone changes (dBone). The distances were saved as scalar field values in the mesh model. Finally, the mucosa thickness changes (dMucosa) were calculated by subtracting the corresponding dBone from dSurface values. Distance computation algorithms in four different software were tested and compared. No differences were found between all four tested software (p0.001). Mean (and standard deviation) of median dSurface, dBone, and dMucosa of right and left residual ridge (n=10) was -0.47mm (0.43), -0.44mm (0.62), and 0.00mm (0.35), respectively. High local variability of dBone and dMucosa was found on the colour-coded maps. A novel method facilitates precise three-dimensional evaluation and visualisation of mucosa thickness and thickness changes, regardless of the software used.