María Fernanda Quevedo-Díaz; Ana Bucchi & Gabriel M. Fonseca

Partial or total dental loss (edentulism) is associated with decreased quality of life. Chile has large socioeconomic gaps, which are also recognized in oral health, but it is not known how Edentulism has evolved throughout the country. The aim of this study was to determine the edentulism in people born during the 19th and 20th centuries in Chile, who died in the 20th century, and to compare it with current data from the Chilean Ministry of Health (MINSAL) to observe its evolution in the country. For this purpose, 60 3D models of skulls from the Subactual Osteological Collection of Santiago were analyzed (30 individuals per sex), in which the presence and absence of teeth in antemortem in the maxilla were analyzed. A high percentage of tooth loss was observed, with 65 % partial edentulism, a 30 % total edentulism, and only 5 % had complete dentition in this osteological collection. In addition, a significant decrease over time was found; in 2017, the percentage of complete dentition at the national level was 32.8 %. A higher frequency of edentulism was also found in females from the osteological collection, with a significant probability of twice as much edentulism as in males. However, this sex difference was smaller than those found in the current study. Our study is the first to compare edentulism in Chile in two different time periods, since, in addition to studying it in the 19th and 20th century, it is carried out with data from the present day and in line with previous research, reveals the importance of socioeconomic and sex variables for dental loss.

KEY WORDS: Edentulism; Tooth loss; Subactual collection; Chile; Prevalence; Social class.

QUEVEDO-DÍAZ, M. F.; BUCCHI, A. & FONSECA, G. M. Dental loss in the lower socioeconomic stratum of a sample of the Chilean population born in the 19th and 20th centuries. Int. J. Morphol., 42(2):458-461, 2024.