Changes in Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) and Satisfaction with Conventional Complete Dentures Among Elderly People.

PURPOSE: To assess the changes in oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and satisfaction among older adults after receiving new complete dentures, and the association of age, gender, education, medical history, past prosthetic history (number of previous complete dentures and time since current complete dentures) and quality of existing complete dentures with patients' ratings of satisfaction with their complete dentures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study comprised 114 community-dwelling adults ≥ 65 year of age, all wearing complete dentures in both jaws. The sample was selected from four senior day centres. Data were collected using clinical oral examinations and a self-administered questionnaire. Dentures were clinically evaluated for retention, stability, occlusion, articulation and vertical dimension. The questionnaire recorded data on sociodemographic information, previous denture history, oral satisfaction scale (OSS), and OHRQoL through the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) scale.

RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in OHRQoL after treatment (mean OIDP score: 2.7) compared to before treatment (mean OIDP score: 6.6). The largest changes were in relation to impacts on eating (33.3% to 15.9%) and smiling (17.5% to 4.5%). Six months after placement of the dentures, patient satisfaction improved compared to before treatment (p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrated that satisfaction was correlated with age, gender, and past prosthetic history in the patients rehabilitated with complete dentures.

CONCLUSIONS: The provision of new dentures among older adults resulted in significantly better satisfaction and OHRQoL than wearing existing dentures. There was no significant correlation between the clinical assessment of the dentures and patients' satisfaction with them.