A clinical investigation of the relationship between the quality of conventional complete dentures and the patients' quality of life

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a correlation between the clinical quality of conventional complete dentures and patient quality of life. Materials and methods: This study included a random sample of 32 completely edentulous patients (15 males and 17 females) who were treated with conventional complete dentures. Using a validated questionnaire, three investigators evaluated the dentures independently on the basis of seven clinical parameters: esthetics (lip support and lower lip line), retention and stability of the maxillary and the mandibular dentures, and occlusion. Patients completed the validated Oral Health Impact Profile-20 (OHIP-20) questionnaire. Correlations were determined by using the point-biserial correlation coefficient. Results: Clinicians rated the overall clinical quality of the dentures satisfactory in 80.3% of patients. The mean (+/- standard deviation) total OHIP-20 score was 56.3 +/- 15.9 out of a possible 120 maximum. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between the stability of the maxillary and mandibular dentures and the total OHIP-20 score (p= 0.009 and 0.0023, respectively). A negative correlation between the total OHIP-20 score and the retention of the mandibular denture approached significance (p= 0.092). Esthetics, retention of the maxillary denture, and occlusion were not correlated with patient quality of life (p> 0.169). Conclusion: Stability of the maxillary and mandibular dentures is the denture quality parameter that can most significantly affect patient quality of life. (C) 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.