Patient-reported outcomes for the immediate loading of mandibular overdentures supported by two implants soon after implant surgery

Background/purpose: No studies have comprehensively assessed short-term pa-tient-reported outcomes after the provision of overdentures supported by two immediate im -plants. The purpose of this study was to evaluate short-term patient-reported outcomes for mandibular overdentures retained by ball attachments on two immediately loaded implants. Materials and methods: Nineteen participants with mandibular edentulism were provided with overdentures retained by ball attachments on two immediately loaded, unsplinted implants. The participants' self-assessment of their dentures and oral health-related quality of life were evaluated with the 22-item Patient's Denture Assessment (PDA), and the 19-item Japanese version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-EDENT), respectively. Patient satisfaction was measured on a 100 mm visual analogue scale. Assessments were conducted at baseline, and at 1 and 6 months after implant surgery. Results: There were significant increases in the PDA "Lower denture" (P = 0.009) at 1 month, as well as "Function" (P = 0.002) and "Lower denture" (P = 0.009) scores at 6 months. Patient satisfaction was also significantly increased at 1 month (P = 0.007) and 6 months (P < 0.000). Significant decreases were observed in the OHIP-EDENT "Physical pain" (P = 0.046) score at 1 month, as well as the summary score (P = 0.033), "Functional limitation" (P = 0.020) and "Psychological discomfort" (P = 0.019) scores at 6 months. Conclusion: The use of two immediately loaded implants for lower mandibular complete over-dentures is associated with improvements in patient's self-assessment of dentures, satisfac-tion, and oral health-related quality of life, up to 6 months after implant surgery. (c) 2021 Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).