[The incidence of partial edentulism and denture status among rural Mongolians]

To determine the prevalence of dentition defects and the need for orthopedic treatment among the population of the regions of Mongolia.

The study involved 444 residents over the age of 18 living in the Khangai region of Mongolia. After a written agreement to participate in the study, an oral examination was performed and the examination data were marked on the map. When determining the topography of dentition defects, the classifications of E. Kennedy and E.I. Gavrilov were used, the presence and type of dentures were noted. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using the SPSS Statistics 25.0 program.

Dentition defects were found in 91.3% of the subjects, complete absence of teeth in 0.4%, and 7.7% of the subjects had complete dentition. With an increase in the age of the subjects, there was a tendency to a predominance of terminal defects (80.8% aged 45 to 74 years). Regardless of age, defects in the anterior parts of the dentition were less common. Of the study participants, 209 (51.0%) had dentures, 97.1% wore removable structures. Acrylic and nylon prostheses prevailed among removable structures (97.0%), only 6 participants had clasp structures. Of the 410 examined with dentition defects, 201 (49.0%) did not have dentures and needed prosthetics after rehabilitation and special preparation of the oral cavity for prosthetics.

The reasons leading to early tooth loss and the most commonly used prosthetics methods are related to the economic level of the country's development, the lifestyle of the population, the state of sanitary and educational work and the low level of prevention of oral diseases. Comprehensive budgetary preventive measures in a particular region of the country are important for reducing oral diseases, aimed not only at reducing the incidence rate, but also at raising public awareness about oral health.