Clinical evaluation of removable partial dentures 10 years after insertion: success rates, hygienic problems, and technical failures.

The aim of this retrospective study was to examine the condition and success rate of various designs of removable partial dentures 10 years after placement. Seventy-four patients treated with 101 mainly conical crown-retained dentures (CCRDs), clasp-retained removable partial dentures (RPDs), or a combination of conical crown and clasp-retained dentures (CRPDs) were reexamined. Prosthetic findings were compared to baseline values at insertion and checked for factors that may affect them. Overall, 36.6% of the prostheses were regarded as successes, 23.8% as partial successes, and 39.6% as failures. Also, only one-third of the prostheses showed neither hygienic problems nor technical failures. The statistical analysis identified no single parameter as significantly affecting the success rate of the partial dentures. Prostheses supported by several abutment teeth had improved success, and RPDs had a higher failure rate (66.7%) than CCRDs (33.3%) and CRPDs (44.8%); however, because of the limited number of RPDs these differences were not statistically significant. Although the prostheses were unsupervised in service, the 60.4% overall success rate of the dentures was somewhat higher than in other studies on precision-retained prostheses.