Accessibility to free prosthodontics services scheme in rural Thai older people

Background: The Thai government launched the Royal Denture Project to provide free complete or removable partial denture to Thai older people who needed. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the number of remaining teeth and access to free prosthodontic services scheme in rural Thai older people. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2018 to June 2019. The participants were 429 older people aged 60 years and older living in a rural area, in the northern part of Thailand (Tha Pladuk Sub-district, Mae Tha District, Lamphun Province, Thailand). The participants were consented to participate in the study. The face to face interview was conducted by well-trained health care providers. After interview, the questionnaire included general information, socio-demographic variables and access to free prosthodontic services scheme in a government hospital were assessed. Clinical examination was conducted by two calibrated dentists based on the WHO Oral Health Surveys Basic Methods 2013. Clinical variables included number of remaining permanent teeth and denture status. Descriptive Statistics and Chi-Square tests were used to analyze. Results: The results showed that 59.7% of participants were females, 55.9% aged 60–69 years, average ages 70.31±7.92 years. 99.8% had less than 6 years of study, 54.8% had monthly income less than 2,500 Thai Baht. 86.0% of the older people lost at least one permanent tooth, 24.0% had less than 12 remaining teeth, and 38.9% had less than 20 remaining teeth. 8.8% were edentate. Among the edentulous patients, 60.5% had not received the free prosthodontic services scheme from a government hospital. Only 15 people had complete dentures done. Moreover, only 19.8% of older people having less than 20 remaining teeth and 21.4% of older people having less than 12 remaining teeth had access to free prosthodontic services scheme. There were significant differences between the number of remaining permanent teeth in rural Thai elder people and accessibility to prosthodontic services in a government hospital (p<0.05). Conclusion: Majority of older people in a rural area who needed dentures had no access to free prosthodontic service scheme.