Prevalences of removable dentures and edentulousness in an adult Swedish population.

In three geographic regions, urban, suburban and rural from the middle of Sweden 20,333 adults (over 15 yrs of age) were examined clinically regarding denture wearing and edentulousness. 30.3% had removable dentures of some kind and 1.0% were edentulous and did not wear any dentures. Removable dentures were significantly more common amongst females (33.8%) than amongst males (26.8%). For complete dentures in both jaws this sex differences was even more pronounced, 19.3% and 11.4%, respectively. The prevalence for removable dentures was highest in the rural region, and lowest in the suburban. This finding may, however, be partly explained by the different age distribution within the areas examined.