The impact of tooth loss on quality of life in independent elderly people

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of tooth loss in the quality of life of aged individuals. Materials and methods: Twenty-eight elderly independent individuals from the " Vida Centro Humanistico" conviviality group from Porto Alegre, Brazil were evaluated. Sampling was by convenience and the committee of ethics in research of the institution approved the research protocol. Individuals were evaluated regarding to the number of teeth present and, after, divided into two groups as follows: group 1 = individuals with 0 to 7 teeth, and group 2 = those with 8 or more teeth. WHOQoL Brief version inventory was used to assess quality of life. Results: Differences between groups were verified with Mann-Whitney test, and internal consistency with Cronbach's a. Value set to reject null hypothesis was p < 0,05. The mean number of teeth was 2,2 in the group 1 and 10,7 in the group 2. Conclusion: The number of natural teeth present was important to determine differences in quality of life (environment domain). In this study, individuals with 8 or more teeth rated their quality of life better than those with lesser teeth.