The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a complaints questionnaire, designed to measure different aspects of denture satisfaction. Two groups of patients with full maxillary and mandibular dentures participated in the study. The patients in Group 1 (n = 113) were on a waiting list for new dentures, patients in Group 2 (n = 102) had recently had new dentures fitted. Five denture complaint scales were constructed from the questionnaire. The internal consistency (coefficient alpha) of the scales varied from 0.65 to 0.92. Furthermore, the scales showed a discriminatory ability between the patient groups (P less than or equal to 0.001) and significant Pearson correlation coefficients with satisfaction-related questions (r = 0.25-0.79). The scores on the scales can be considered a quantitative measure of denture satisfaction.

The influence of particle size and tooth brush stiffness on abrasion of dentine was determined by means of a brushing machine, using 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, and 10,000 strokes and 200 g tooth brush load. Tooth pastes with two particle sizes were used: 7 and 15 μm diameter for the CaCO₃ and 8 and 13 μm for Al(OH)₃ abrasive systems. Abrasion was measured by a surface profilometer system and expressed in mean depth. The results show that (1) abrasion was always linearly correlated to the number of strokes; (2) nearly independent of the tooth paste system the abrasion is roughly 1.4 × more severe for the medium than for the soft brush; (3) the abrasion rates (average thickness removed per stroke) prooved to be significantly (p < 0.05) different for all four tooth paste systems, and (4) larger particles lead to higher abrasion rates for both abrasive systems.

The aim of this investigation was to explore the relative importance of psychologic variables in explaining the degree of denture satisfaction in full denture patients. A group of 125 patients who were on a waiting list to have new dentures constructed participated in this study. The patients completed the Dutch version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, the Dutch Personality Inventory, a denture satisfaction questionnaire and a denture complaint questionnaire. No relation was found between the personality variables and denture satisfaction as measured by the denture satisfaction questionnaire. When the different aspects of denture satisfaction were measured by means of complaint scales, satisfaction was related to personality traits. Functional complaints of the mandibular denture and complaints about a hollow face were related to the personality trait "extraversion-introversion". Vague denture complaints and complaints about a bulbous face were related to "neuroticism".

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