The Relationship between Treatment Time and Degree of Difficulty in Complete Denture Construction

Purpose: Considerations of healthcare economics make it important to clarify the time required for each type of dental treatment. In this study, we conducted a survey of dentists’ estimates of the time that would be required to treat certain patients after reading the clinical information about their particular cases. The purpose of this paper was to elucidate the relationship between estimated times and affected in case of difficulty, based on the results of this survey. Methods: Three patients with edentulous jaws requiring treatment of varying degrees of difficulty were treated by a specialist with 14 years of clinical experience, and the time required to perform each treatment was recorded. The information on the three patients was presented to 196 dentists of seven dental schools in Japan. We asked them to estimate the time each treatment step would take and the frequency of performance of these steps. At a later date, they were again asked to give their estimates of the treatment time, the consciousness (mean time) and standard deviation of each treatment step were shown, and a similar investigation was conducted (Delphi technique). All dentists with at least five years of clinical experience (95 dentists) were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Results: A significant difference by degree of difficulty was found in the estimated total treatment time. For those treatment steps upon which the skill of the practitioner has a considerable impact, Final impression and Maxillomandibular registration obtained, and dentists’ consciousness (treatment times) became longer as the degree of difficulty of the treatment steps became greater. However, clinical experience and consciousness (treatment times) were not significantly affected in cases of difficulty. Conclusions: It was suggested that the degree of treatment difficulty in complete denture construction affects the estimates of treatment time (consciousness).