Prosthetic status and prosthetic needs in relation to socio- economic factors among the Municipal employees of Mysore city

Materials and methods: All the available employees (1187) of Mysore city Corporation during the study period were considered for the study. WHO Oral Health Assessment form (1997) and a preformed questionnaire were used to collect the required data. Modified Kuppuswamy scale with readjustment of the per capita income was used for classifying the individuals into different Socioeconomic status (SES) categories. Data was collected by a single, trained and calibrated examiner (dentist) using mouth mirror and CPI probe under natural day light. Data analysis was done using SPSS windows version 10. Comparison of the prosthetic status and needs between different SES categories was done using cross tabs and contingency co-efficient. Results: 6.1% of the subjects in the study had prosthesis of some kind. Prosthesis of some kind was present in 24.7% of the subjects in the upper middle SES category and none of the subjects in the lower SES category had prosthesis. The prosthetic need in the study population was 45.7%. About 67.9% of the subjects in the lower SES category needed prosthesis of some kind. The prosthetic need was 52.9% in the upper lower and 6% in the upper SES category. Conclusion: The study found a direct relationship between socio-economic status and prosthetic status and inverse relation between socio-economic status and prosthetic need.