Long-term follow-up indicates unimpaired oral health-related quality of life for people having shortened dental arches.

OBJECTIVES: To assess and analyse OHRQoL of people with shortened dental arches (SDA) in a long-term cohort study.

METHODS: All participants of a long-term cohort study on SDA who were still attending the university dental clinic and still had an SDA (SDA group) with 3-5 posterior occluding pairs and intact anterior areas, an SDA plus removable dental prosthesis (SDA plus PRDP group) or complete dental arch (CDA group) completed the Dutch version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49NL) and additional questions on satisfaction with their dental status (yes/no). Mann-Whitney tests were performed for OHIP total scores and OHIP domain scores. The chance that the difference in median OHIP scores between the groups was larger than 6 OHIP units, was calculated by a bootstrapping procedure.

RESULTS: 10 participants were eligible for SDA group and 11 for CDA group. The SDA plus PRDP group (n=1) was excluded from analyses. Mean follow-up period was 29.3±5.5 for SDA group and 36.7±5.5years for CDA group. Mean OHIP-49NL score was 13.9±10.9 for SDA group and 11.3±8.6 for CDA group. Differences in mean total scores and mean scores per domain were not statistically different. The probability that a difference in median OHIP total scores between groups was larger than 6 OHIP units was 0.25. Both groups showed high percentages of satisfaction with dental condition, except for dental appearance.

CONCLUSION: OHRQoL of people with a long-term SDA condition was similar to that of people with CDA.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: People having SDA for long periods are expected to report similar OHRQoL and satisfaction levels/oral comfort as people with CDA.