From Volume 46, Issue 6, June 2019 | Pages 537-545
The first article of this series identified the common reasons for referral for complete denture patients to secondary care. With this background, this article provides general dental practitioners (GDPs) with clinical tips to avoid the common errors whilst making complete dentures.
Complete denture prosthodontics remains a difficult clinical procedure in general dental practice. This has been illustrated by the number of referrals received at Birmingham Dental Hospital for the provision of complete dentures, which are deemed ‘too complex to treat’. Changes in the dental curriculum to accommodate recent advancements in other fields of dentistry have reduced the time available for teaching complete denture prosthodontics.1 This has resulted in low confidence levels in treating patients who, in turn, are becoming frustrated with care in general dental practice.1, 2
In our previous article, the reasons for the referral of edentulous patients to Birmingham Dental Hospital were analysed. The referral letters from GDPs indicated that they were faced with a range of difficulties. The clinical records of the referred patients were reviewed and data collected. The main reasons for referring a patient to secondary care were issues with resorption of the mandibular ridge and looseness (Table 1). The group of ill-defined reasons (28%) are listed in Table 2.
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