IADR Abstract Archives
Development of a Denture-Based Quality of Life Measure
Objectives: Relatively little is known about what it means to live with dentures in everyday life, with many studies focusing on tooth loss in general. The ability of existing quality of life measures to capture these experiences are limited, as they tend to be deficit-based and not designed specifically around dentures. This research aimed to develop a quality of life measure, using qualitative data on participants’ experiences of living with dentures.
Methods: Twenty participants were recruited (11 male, 9 female; 22-86 years) - 4 with cobalt chromium partial dentures, 16 with acrylic partial dentures. Semi-structured interviews explored everyday experiences of living with a denture, and framework analysis was used to map themes from the interviews onto the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. From this mapping, representative items and subscales for the measure were derived. Preliminary pilot testing assessed the wording and relatability of the measure.
Results: While living with a denture was associated with numerous impacts and limitations, dentures also had rehabilitative effects for some patients and were seen as a positive addition to their lives. The subscales (and number of questions) for the initial 62-item measure were: integration of dentures in the mouth (n=7); changes in daily life (n=6); psychological and emotional responses (n=13); impacts around other people (n=7); impacts on daily activities (n=4); activity limitations (n=4); participation restrictions (n=5); overall impacts (n=4). Sections on important features of dentures (n=1), location and characteristics of dentures (n=6), dental attendance (n=1) and demographics (n=4) were also included.
Conclusions: This research demonstrates the range of impacts (positive and negative) experienced in everyday life by denture wearers. This presents a challenge in creating a person-centred condition-specific measure to capture these varying impacts, but such a measure may be of use in research and evaluating health outcomes in clinical settings. Further testing and validation is required.
Methods: Twenty participants were recruited (11 male, 9 female; 22-86 years) - 4 with cobalt chromium partial dentures, 16 with acrylic partial dentures. Semi-structured interviews explored everyday experiences of living with a denture, and framework analysis was used to map themes from the interviews onto the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. From this mapping, representative items and subscales for the measure were derived. Preliminary pilot testing assessed the wording and relatability of the measure.
Results: While living with a denture was associated with numerous impacts and limitations, dentures also had rehabilitative effects for some patients and were seen as a positive addition to their lives. The subscales (and number of questions) for the initial 62-item measure were: integration of dentures in the mouth (n=7); changes in daily life (n=6); psychological and emotional responses (n=13); impacts around other people (n=7); impacts on daily activities (n=4); activity limitations (n=4); participation restrictions (n=5); overall impacts (n=4). Sections on important features of dentures (n=1), location and characteristics of dentures (n=6), dental attendance (n=1) and demographics (n=4) were also included.
Conclusions: This research demonstrates the range of impacts (positive and negative) experienced in everyday life by denture wearers. This presents a challenge in creating a person-centred condition-specific measure to capture these varying impacts, but such a measure may be of use in research and evaluating health outcomes in clinical settings. Further testing and validation is required.