MASTIGATORY PERFORMANCE AND ORAL HEALTH RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN OLD EDENTULUOS REAHBILITED WITH COMPLETE DENTURES: RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL
chew, complete denture, old, satisfaction, edentulous
Conventional complete dentures (CDs) are widely used for the rehabilitation of totally edentulous individuals, in order to restore the patients’ lost functions due to tooth loss. Thus, this randomized controlled trial aimed to evaluate the impact of bimaxillary CDs rehabilitation on masticatory performance (MP), oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), technical quality of dentures (TQ) and the satisfaction among totally edentulous elderly adults. A total of 50 participants were randomized into two distinct groups: control group (CG; old CDs evaluated at T0 and reassessed after 3 months - T1; n = 25) and test group (TG; old CDs evaluated at T0 and new CDs evaluated after 3 months of use; n = 25). The MP was analyzed by determining the median particle size (X50). OHRQoL was obtained from the OHIP-Edent Questionnaire and satisfaction was assessed through functional and psychological criteria using a questionnaire. TQ was obtained by a clinical evaluation. In order to verify the variation between the variables in T1 - T0, the variables “Dif X50”, “Dif OHIP”, “Dif TQ” and “Dif sat”, respectively, were created. Depending on the normal distribution of data, parametric and nonparametric tests were used in the statistical analysis (5% significance and 80% power). The final sample consisted of 48 elderly adults, with a mean age of 68.77 years (± 6.01), predominantly female. For TG, at T0, the median of X50 was 6.82 mm and at T1, 6.77 mm; In the CG, the values were 6.49 mm at T0 and 6.71 mm at T1. When comparing the variation of X50 between the two groups, there was no significant difference between them (p = 0.105). For the TG, the total OHIP-Edent median decreased significantly after treatment (from 12.00 points to 5.00). This reduction was also significant for the domains: functional limitation, physical pain, psychological discomfort, physical dysfunction and psychological dysfunction. The variation in satisfaction increased significantly only in the TG (p <0.001), as well as the TQ, which presented a positive variation of 55.00 points (p <0.001). From the results, it can be concluded that new bimaxillary conventional CDs promote a significant improvement in the satisfaction and OHRQoL of the elderly adults, especially in relation to their functional and psychological aspects. However, it did not improve the masticatory performance when a 3 months period of use was considered.