Denture marking--patient preference of various methods.

Dental forensic organizations world wide have recommended that dental prostheses should be labeled with at least the patient's (wearer's) name and preferably with further unique identifiers such as social security number. A range of methods are available and the purpose of this study was to determine, via the means of a visual questionnaire, which are the most preferable to those patients who wear complete dentures. One hundred edentulous patients attending the Manchester Dental Hospital were shown a range of denture labeling methods and asked to rank these according to their preference. The most preferred method was that of an embedded radio frequency identification microchip (38% rated this as first) and the second was an inclusion technique using onion paper (24% rated this as first). The least preferred method was the use of a groove cut into the denture flange with 71% of patients rating this as the poorest in terms of esthetics. The study demonstrates that the method of denture labeling is important to patients and to ensure that denture labeling is performed routinely esthetic preferences must be considered.