Denture marking: a questionnaire for patients and dentists

It has been recommended by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) (SOSFS[M] 1986:25) since the 1960s that all patients should be offered the opportunity to have their dentures marked. The Swedish ID-band has become the international standard and the FDI-accepted denture marking system. Recent research from our group has shown that only about 50% of the dentures in homes for elderly were marked. Since this is not acceptable the aim of this study was to investigate the opinions regarding denture marking among dentists, dentate patients and edentulous patients. The results from this study are based on the answers from 79 dentists. Most dentists made 2-5 dentures a year and in only four cases had they experienced unmarked dentures returning from the dental technician. Most of the patients were satisfied with their dentures but sixteen were not. According to the patients their dentist did not ask for permission to mark in 76% of cases and the dentists stated that they did not ask for the patients' opinion about marking in 65% of cases. One of the conclusions from this investigation indicates that the dentists are responsible for the lack of marking of the dentures. Previous studies have shown that denture marking can be crucial in identification of deceased persons and that clinical experience shows that denture marking is important especially in institutions where the recommendations of the NBHW should be stressed.