Methods: 392 participants were drawn from subjects who participated in the PREHCO study, a multi-stage, clustered sample of non-institutionalized 60+ years old, residing in PR. The PREDHS eligibility included residing in the San Juan metropolitan area, being dentate, at least 70 years old, and free of major CVD conditions. Three trained and calibrated dentists defined the prosthodontic clinical quality criteria by consensus agreement. Quality deficiency criteria included: lack of retention, instability, inadequate occlusion contacts, excessive wear, fracture, tissue impingement and inflammation. RPs were evaluated in and out of the mouth, and the type of denture, arch restored, and clinical quality deficiencies were recorded. Descriptive statistics were computed and differences by gender were statistically tested.
Results: One-hundred and eighty-three of the 243 subjects (75%) who agreed to participate met all eligibility criteria. Ninety-six subjects (52%) had RPs. The mean age of the participants was 77 (S.D. = 6.23) and 67% were female. Seventeen percent were edentulous in the maxilla and 1.6% in the mandible; more edentulous males had RPs than females (p=0.04). One or more clinical quality deficiencies were found in 58% of maxillary and mandibular RPs, (64% overall vs. NHANES III's 65%), with no statistical difference between genders. Approximately one-quarter of all upper and lower RPs required replacement because of un-repairable deficiencies.
Conclusions: Puerto Rico homebound elderly with RPs had a similar proportion of RPs with clinical quality defects detected on clinical examination compared to US older adults with RPs. Due to quality deficiencies, a substantial proportion of RPs in the PR elderly require prosthetic dental services.