Signs of Combination Syndrome and removable partial denture wearing

Abstract

Introduction: Combination Syndrome (CS) is a pathological condition observed in maxillary complete denture (CD) and mandibular removable partial denture (RPD) wearers. Purpose: The aim of this study was to observe and measure the prevalence of CS signs in treatment-seeking wearers of maxillary CD associated or not with RPD (mandibular Kennedy Class I). The association between RPD wearing and the number of CS clinical signs was also evaluated. Material and method: The sample included 62 patients seen at the Department of Dentistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). A clinical oral examination was conducted to assess the presence of specific clinical signs of CS as described by Kelly (1972): bone resorption in the maxillary anterior region, tuberosity overgrowth, palatal papillary hyperplasia, extrusion of mandibular anterior teeth and bone resorption in the mandibular posterior region. The chi-square test at the 95% level of significance was used to test the association between dependent and independent variables. Result: Mandibular resorption was the most frequent complication (93.5%). There was a statistically significant difference between RPD wearers and non-wearers with regard to extrusion of mandibular anterior teeth (p = 0.045). Conclusion: Within the limitations of the present study, a high prevalence of CS clinical signs was observed, but no association between RPD wearing and syndrome characteristics was found.