[Dental treatment need of the edentulous patient]

The gradually decreasing percentage of adults wearing complete dentures in The Netherlands might easily lead to misunderstandings concerning the future prosthetic treatment need. If the percentage edentulous people aged 65 years and older, for example, would be the same as in 1983, then as a consequence of the ageing of the population, the number of edentulous persons in 2020 will be 2.3 million (in 1983: 1.4 million). It is, therefore, concluded that the prosthetic treatment need will not diminish in the next 40 years, but probably will increase strongly.