A survey of the practice of partial denture prosthetics in the United Kingdom

A random sample of 1050 dentists qualified within the period 1957-77 was taken from The Dentists Register. Dentists without a United Kingdom qualification were eliminated from the sample. The remaining 794 dentists were sent a questionnaire seeking information about a wide range of activities involved in the provision of partial dentures. A response rate of 76.2 per cent (605 replies) was achieved. Of these, 480 dentists were engaged in general practice. Comparison of the results of this survey with previous surveys of commercial dental laboratories (Schwarz and Barsby, 1978) and of some aspects of teaching in dental schools (Barsby and Schwarz, 1979) confirms the hypothesis that much of what is taught in dental schools regarding partial dentures is not carried out in practice. Selected aspects of the survey are reported in detail.