Assessment of awareness of dental implants among NSS volunteers of Bhubaneswar city

Abstract

Loss of teeth affects both an individual's appearance and functioning, with a negative impact on psychological and social wellbeing. Implant-supported prosthesis has proven advantages like increased masticatory efficiency, maintenance of the bone, improved function, phonetics, aesthetics, etc. There is a variation in the level of awareness about dental implant treatment among people. As NSS volunteers are mostly involved in creating awareness about several aspects among the population, there is a requirement of assessment of their knowledge about dental implants to improve the efforts to be taken to upgrade their awareness about the same. The aim of this study was to assess the awareness of dental implants among NSS volunteers of Bhubaneswar city, Odisha State, India using a questionnaire survey. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1500 NSS volunteers of Bhubaneswar city, Odisha State, India through a printed questionnaire comprising of 12 close-ended questions to evaluatethe awareness of dental implant treatment between Dec-Jan 2019-20.Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 23 software. Among 1500 subjects, a total of 587(39.1%) population was aware of dental implant treatment, 1270 (84.7%) believed that high cost and lack of knowledge was a limitation for implant treatment, 1189 (79.3%) felt that dental implants had better longevity.