Oral health-related quality of life may be affected by tooth loss patterns, dental prosthesis type

Investigators examined whether dental prostheses were associated with improved oral health-related quality of life in patients with partial edentulism.

Prior research on the impact of oral rehabilitation on oral health-related quality of life has been conflicting because of differences in tooth loss patterns and types of dental prostheses.

In a study published in The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, the investigators analyzed the oral health-related quality of life among 22,843 patients aged 15 to 75 years.

Compared with those who didn’t have tooth loss and didn’t wear a dental prosthesis, the oral health-related quality of life was worse among patients with anterior missing teeth only, those with a distal extension with anterior tooth loss and those with complete edentulism in one or both jaws. Further, the patients who wore removable partial dentures or removable partial dentures in combination with fixed dental prostheses and had tooth loss experienced poorer oral health-related quality of life compared with those who had fixed dental prostheses only or those without dental prostheses.

The findings suggested that clinicians should communicate the potential oral and systemic risks of tooth loss with their patients and consider replacing teeth with dental prostheses to enhance patients’ quality of life.

Read more: The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry

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