Evaluating impact of removable acrylic dentures on oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of patients

Abstract

Objective: To manage patient expectation and provision of relief, it is vital to assess the impact of different domains of oral health associated with denture wearing which affect OHRQoL. Hence, study aimed to evaluate impact of removable acrylic dentures on OHRQoL of patients and assess influence of sociodemographic variables on OHRQoL. Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study with purposive sampling strategy was used to collect data from denture wearing patients presenting in prosthodontics department of dental teaching hospital of Lahore. A translated version of OHIP-14 (Oral Health Impact Profile) was employed. Mann-Whitney test was used to find association between variables (gender, age, missing teeth, type of denture, denture wearing time) and OHIP-14 items. ANOVA and T-test was performed to evaluate associate between OHIP-14 domain mean and variables. Results: 206 patients were included in the study. OHIP prevalence was 61.2%, whereas OHIP Score was 19.17 ± 10.1. Most affected domain was psychological discomfort (mean=1.81) followed by physical pain (1.76) and functional limitation (1.52). Significant association was observed amongst gender with female more likely to have an impact on OHRQoL due to physical disability, functional limitation and physical handicap. Patients with complete dentures were more likely to experience an impact on their OHRQoL due to physical disability and physical pain (p=0.04, 0.04) Conclusions: OHRQoL was satisfactory in our study however, majority of patients experienced problems associated with denture wearing. Most patients experienced psychological discomfort, physical pain and functional limitation. Female gender and patients with more than 5 missing teeth were more likely to have low OHRQoL. Keywords: Oral health, quality of life, dentures