Differences in impact of patient and prosthetic characteristics on oral health-related quality of life among implant-retained overdenture wearers.

Objectives: To evaluate the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of implant-retained overdenture users.

Methods: 63 patients aged 50-90 years treated with at least one implant overdenture at the Complutense University (Madrid) in 2000-2010 were included. Of those, 42 answered the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14 sp) questionnaire. The additive method was used in the OHIP analysis. Data regarding sociodemographic background, overdenture features, and clinical factors were recorded. Sociodemographic and overdenture-related variables for the lost patients (n=21) were also gathered from their history files. Descriptive probes, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, and the Spearman correlation coefficient were applied (p ≤ 0.05).

Results: The predominant participants' profile was that of a 71-80-year-old woman wearing a mandibular overdenture with a bar retention system and a complete denture in the opposite jaw. 71.4% of the respondents suffered from some kind of impact on OHRQoL, showing an average score of 2.7 ± 3.0 (range: 0-13). 100% of respondents reported no impact for the "social disability" and "handicap" dimensions. The most prevalently affected domain was "physical pain", followed by "functional limitation" and "psychological discomfort". Variables such as the overdenture location or the retention system affected specific OHIP subscales (p ≤ 0.05). The greatest total score was achieved when the antagonist was a complete denture (p<0.01).

Conclusions: Implant-retained overdentures provide a seemingly acceptable quality of life in the elderly population studied, irrespective of the influence of the location, retention system, and antagonist.

Clinical Significance: Although further research is necessary, mandibular implant overdentures are more comfortable than maxillary ones. Ball-retained prostheses facilitate eating the most, whereas the presence of oral ulcers and/or candidiasis was only detected in the case of bars, thus impairing OHRQoL. A complete denture as antagonist decreases the patient overall satisfaction.