Denture care and oral health‐related quality of life among complete denture wearers in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

AbstractIntroductionThis study aimed to evaluate denture care and hygiene and oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) among complete denture (CD) wearers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.MethodologyThis cross‐sectional study was conducted on CD wearers in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A pre‐tested questionnaire was administered among study participants. Questionnaire was divided in three sections: (1) patients' demographic data, (2) awareness and maintenance of CD and (3) OHRQoL. Independent sample t‐test and one‐way ANOVA test were performed.ResultsThe study included data of 300 participants with 71% of males and 28% of females. Majority of participants (82.7%) cleaned CD daily, removed CD while sleeping (88.0%) and knew that unhygienic dentures can cause oral infection (92.7%). Only 19.3% used denture cleansing tables, 41% used toothpaste, and 60.7% rinsed CD with water. Regarding OHIP‐DENT domains, highest score was for functional limitation domain (2.20 ± 1.67) and the lowest for handicap domain (0.94 ± 1.09). The mean OHIP‐DENT score of the sample was 12.02 ± 8.52. Females (p = 0.006), participants below 65 years of age (p = 0.029), non‐Saudis (p = 0.042), those with university education (p = 0.030) and low monthly income (p = 0.045) and participants who visited dentist due to problem with CD (p = 0.041) demonstrated significantly higher mean OHIP‐DENT score.ConclusionMajority of participants demonstrated appropriate denture care behaviours because they were aware of the importance of denture care and hygiene. Female gender, age below 65 years, non‐Saudi nationality, university education, low monthly income and visiting dentist due to problem were related to poor OHRQoL.