No abstract

An adequate dentition is of importance for well-being and life quality. Despite advances in preventive dentistry, edentulism is still a major public health problem worldwide. In this narrative review, we provide a perspective on the pathways that link oral to general health. A better understanding of disease indicators is necessary for establishing a solid strategy through an organized oral health care system to prevent and treat this morbid chronic condition.

Mandibular overdentures retained by two implants provide elderly patients with better OHQOL. General health-related quality of life improved in the implant group.

No abstract

The importance of assessing the impact of treatments for chronic conditions on an individual's quality of life has been well-established. In this randomized clinical trial, oral-health-related quality of life, measured with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), was compared between two groups of edentulous patients. One group (n = 54) received mandibular implant-supported overdentures, and the other group (n = 48) received conventional dentures. Assessments were performed pre-treatment and two months after the prostheses were delivered. The multivariate model showed that implant treatment was significantly associated with lower post-treatment OHIP scores (p = 0.0002), indicating a better quality of life. In addition, pretreatment OHIP scores, treatment allocation, age, sex, and marital status explained 31% of the variation in post-treatment OHIP scores (F = 0.0001). These results suggest that implant treatment provides significant short-term improvement over conventional treatment in oral-health-related quality of life.

Our findings suggest that, although mandibular implant-retained overdentures may be more satisfying for edentulous patients than new conventional dentures, the magnitude of the effect is still uncertain. There is a need for additional evidence including cost-effectiveness analyses on the impact of mandibular implant overdentures and conventional dentures.

No abstract

In a within-subject cross-over clinical trial, psychometric and functional measurements were taken while 15 completely edentulous subjects wore mandibular fixed prostheses and long-bar removable implant-supported prostheses. In this paper, the results of a psychometric assessment are presented. Eight subjects first received the fixed bridge and seven the removable type. After having worn a prosthesis for a minimum of two months, subjects responded to psychometric scales that measured their perceptions of various factors associated with prostheses. They also chewed test foods while masticatory activity was recorded. The prostheses were then changed and the procedures repeated. At the end of the study, patients were asked to choose the prosthesis that they wished to keep. Patients assigned significantly higher scores, on visual analogue scales, to both types of implant-supported prostheses than to their original conventional prostheses for all factors tested, including general satisfaction. However, no statistically significant differences between the two implant-supported prostheses were detected except for the difficulty of chewing carrot, apple, and sausage. For these foods, the fixed prostheses were rated higher. Subjects' responses to category scales were consistent with their responses to the visual analogue scales. These results suggest that, although patients find the fixed bridge to be significantly better for chewing harder foods, there is no difference in their general satisfaction with the two types of prostheses.