Status of Oral Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Edentulism at the University Clinics of Kinshasa (CUK), DR Congo

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Objective: The present work aimed to identify the most common edentulousness and prosthesis type (prosthetic treatment), to improve the management in oral prosthetic rehabilitation in DR Congo. Material and Methods: It was a documentary, longitudinal, and retrospective study of the medical records of edentulous patients admitted to the prosthetic service of the Dental Department/Kinshasa University from January 1983 to December 2020. Age, sex, cause of teeth loss, and prosthetic treatment (partial removable prosthesis, complete removable prosthesis) were evaluated. The Chare square test was performed to compare significant differences between the variables and the P-value < 0.05 was set as significant. Results: One thousand six hundred and ninety patients in that 901 were men (47 ± 16 years) and 789 women (42 ± 15 years) had undergone prosthetic treatment. One thousand eight hundred and forty-four edentulous teeth were viewed according to the Kennedy classification. Kennedy class 1 was the most predominant (61.4%) followed by Kennedy class 3 (24.8%). Two thousand one hundred and ninety-one prostheses were performed. The removable partial prosthesis with plate (acrylic resin) was the most performed (78.8%; n = 1727) and followed by the joint (17.4%; n = 384). Dental caries (52.6%) and periodontitis (36.4%) were the main causes of these edentulous teeth. Conclusion: The present study showed that edentulism is becoming a concern for the implementation of a real oral health policy.