Attitudes and practise of Doctors of Dental Medicine on the use of face bow in prosthetic treatment

Cilj: Glavni cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati stavove i praksu doktora dentalne medicine o upotrebi obraznog luka u protetičkom liječenju. Specifični ciljevi istraživanja bili su ispitati iskustva doktora dentalne medicine te učestalost upotrebe obraznog luka u kliničkom radu. Materijali i metode: U razdoblju od ožujka do početka srpnja 2022. godine provedeno je presječno istraživanja s ciljem utvrđivanja stavova i prakse doktora dentalne medicine o upotrebi obraznog luka u protetičkom liječenju. Istraživanje se temeljilo na anonimnom anketnom upitniku dijeljenom putem Google obrasca. U prvom dijelu anketnog upitnika prikupljeni su opći podaci ispitanika, dok se drugi dio upitnika odnosio na stavove i praksu ispitanika u vezi s upotrebom obraznog luka. Rezultati: U istraživanju su sudjelovala 103 doktora dentalne medicine. Većina ispitanika (71 %) zadovoljna je ishodom vlastite protetičke terapije bez obzira na to koriste li obrazni luk ili ne. Čak 84 % ispitanika smatra kako nema dovoljno znanja o pravilnoj upotrebi obraznog luka, a samo 17 % ispitanika pohađalo je dodatne edukacije. Veći dio ispitanika, njih 77 %, nikada ili rijetko koristi obrazni luk u svom kliničkom radu. Kao razloge za to navode neznanje (31 %) te nedostatak opreme (39 %), unatoč većinskom mišljenju ispitanika (60 %) kako su rezultati postignuti s obraznim lukom značajno bolji. Rezultati za navedene kliničke situacije, u kojima se upotreba obraznog luka smatra indicirana, bili su poprilično loši. Pohvalna stvar za dobivene rezultate je zainteresiranost većeg broja ispitanika (86 %) za dodatne edukacije o upotrebi obraznog luka. Zaključak: Na osnovu rezultata ovog istraživanja potvrđeno je kako većina doktora dentalne medicine nema dovoljno znanja o obraznom luku, ta da njegova primjena nije učestala u svakodnevnoj kliničkoj praksi. Navedeni rezultati ukazuju na potrebu dodatnih znanstvenih istraživanja kako bi se razjasnila stvarna potreba obraznog luka u protetičkom liječenju.
Objectives: The main goal of this research was to examine the attitudes and practice of Doctors of Dental Medicine regarding the use of face bow in prosthetic treatment. The specific objectives of the research were to examine the experiences of Doctors of Dental Medicine and frequency of using the face bow in clinical work. Materials and methods: In the period from March to the beginning of July 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted with the aim of determining the attitudes and practices of doctors of dental medicine regarding the use of face bow in prosthetic treatment. The research was based on an anonymous questionnaire distributed via a Google form. In the first part, the general information of the respondents was collected, while the second part of the questionnaire refers to the attitudes and practices of the respondents in relation to the face bow. Results: Total of 103 Doctors of Dental Medicine participated in the research. The majority of respondents (71 %) are satisfied with the outcome of their own prosthetic therapy, regardless of whether they use a face bow or not. As many as 84 % of them believe that they do not have enough knowledge about the correct use off face bow, and only 17% of respondents attended additional education. Most of the respondents, 77 % of them, never or rarely use the face bow in their clinical work. The reasons for this are mostly given by ignorance (31 %) and lack of equipment (39 %), despite the majority opinion of the respondents (60 %) that the results achieved with the face bow are significantly better. The results for the mentioned clinical situations, in which the use of the face bow is considered indicated, were quite poor. The commendable thing about the obtained results is the interest of a large number of respondents in additional education on the use of face bows, as many as 86 % of them. Conclusions: Based on the results of this research, it was confirmed that most doctors of dental medicine do not have enough knowledge about the face bow, and that its application is not frequent in everyday clinical practice. The above results point to the need for additional scientific research in order to clarify the real need for face bows in prosthetic treatment.