[Comparison of shortened dental arches with complete dental arches by clinical examinations].

Purpose: Recently, there have been reports in favor of avoiding prosthodontic intervention as Shortened Dental Arch (SDA) in Northern Europe. However, many of these reports were conducted through interviews and questionnaires, and so the evaluation of the results lacked objectivity. Thus, this research analyzed the clinical status of SDA.

Methods: For the selection of subjects, seven patients (average age: 59.3+/-13.2 years old) who had had the free-end missing on both sides of the lower dental arches for over five years were chosen as the SDA group. As the complete dental arch (CDA) group, seven patients (average age: 61.3+/-9.6 years old) who had no clinical defects in their masticatory function, and who had no missing teeth other than the third molar, were selected. Measurement items in this study were occlusal contact areas for the mandible premolar, center of force, occlusion time, and interdentium. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis and the significance level was assumed to be 5%.

Results: The results were as follows: 1) The occlusal contact area of the mandible premolar of SDA was significantly large. 2) The center of force of SDA was significantly forward. 3) The occlusion time of SDA had a tendency of prolongation. 4) Interdentium of 3 2 | 2 3, 4 3 | 3 4 and 5 4 | 4 5 of SDA were significantly wide.

Conclusions: There were differences of clinical parameters between SDA and CDA in this study.