"PRO" for Prosthodontics
Ritu Gupta*
Published: May 02, 2022
Abstract
Charlie Chaplin had once said “always keep in your mind that you will always find your life a worthwhile one, just if you keep a beautiful smile on your face every time.” The power that a simple smile holds cannot be emphasised upon enough and rendering someone the ability to smile again with confidence is something that makes the field of prosthodontics so inspiring. We have come a long way from carving dentures out of ivory and using cattle teeth to simulating teeth within the jaw as seen in implant osseointegration. A study conducted by CDC over 2011 to 2016, revealed that one out of six adults aged 65 and older had lost all their teeth and around one-fourth of the adults aged 65 and older have 8 or less teeth making edentulism a significant setback and these numbers are expected to grow in the next two decades. Edentulism, besides being a functional and esthetic problem, has a psychological component as well. A recent encounter that was personally enriching was with a patient who had lost her last few remaining teeth due to severe periodontitis. She expressed the apprehension to smile caused due to her tooth loss.