IJSR International Journal of Scientific Research 2277 - 8179 Indian Society for Health and Advanced Research ijsr-6-9-11952 Original Research Paper Need for Specialist Prosthodontic Services as seen by Private Dental Practitioners in Chennai City: A Survey Shafath Ahmed A Dr. Dr.Thamaraiselvan KM Dr. September 2017 6 9 01 02 ABSTRACT

 To identify theNeed for Specialist Prosthodontic Services as seen by Private Dental Practitioners (PDP) in Chennai City.  A panel of Prosthodontists set up a postal questionnaire. After piloting the questionnaire on 15 PDPs, it was sent across to 300 private dental practitioners, randomly selected in Chennai city.  A descriptive analysis was done on the collected data. 84% of private dental practitioners who took up the survey felt treatment provided by prosthodontists to be very effective, but only 54% utilised their services. The number of years a dentist had experience had no influence on utilisation of a Specialist Prosthodontist’s service. Amongst the surveyed dentists, only 17.2% had a Specialty Prosthodontic Clinic in their region, a majority of 68.4% did not have one and 31.2% weren’t aware of such a specialty clinic. While Private Dental Practitioners do have a very high regard for the Prosthodontic specialty, the report shows that the demand for Prosthodontists is less in comparison to other specialties. This strongly indicates that Prosthodontists do need to put in efforts and bring awareness to the PDP’s of their services.