Attitudes and usage of denture adhesives by complete denture wearers: a survey in Greece and the Netherlands.
OBJECTIVE
To explore whether there are differences in usage of and attitudes towards denture adhesives among patients in two countries.


BACKGROUND
There are no multi-country surveys concerning usage of and attitudes towards denture adhesives from complete denture wearers.


METHODS
The survey took place in Greece and the Netherlands with a sample of 284 and 165 consecutive complete denture wearers, respectively, by using a 9-item prepared questionnaire. Statistical analysis relied on chi-square test at α = 0.05.


RESULTS
In this survey, 26 and 20% of Greek and Dutch patients, respectively, had tried denture adhesive, but only 27% of them in Greece as well as in the Netherlands currently used it; 49% of the Greek and 45% of the Dutch participants rated the overall performance of adhesives as good. Between the two populations, no differences were identified in a majority of the research variables, except where 27% of Greeks answered that they did not know the existence of denture adhesives compared to none of the Dutch patients and when 90% of the Dutch contrary to 70% of Greeks reported that they did not need denture adhesives as they could manage their dentures well.


CONCLUSIONS
The usage of and attitudes towards denture adhesives between the Greek and Dutch sample were similar with only two exceptions concerning the knowledge of existence and the need of using denture adhesives.
Department of Prosthodontics, Dental School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. grepolyz@dent.uoa.gr
Gregory L
GL
Polyzois
Cees
C
de Baat
D000269:Adhesives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003781:Denture Retention; D003824:Denture, Complete / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000269:Adhesives