Comparison of Prosthetic Treatments with Regard to Quality of Life

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of fixed and removable dental prostheses on the oral health related quality of life.
Methods: 644 Patients from the Department of Prosthodontics, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany, were asked to complete the OHIP-G14-questionaire before and after prosthodontic treatment (face to face interview). The study includes 666 different dental prostheses (346 fixed prostheses, 167 removable partial and complete dentures and 153 double-crown retained dental prostheses). Gender, age, the number of remaining teeth and in crowns and fixed prostheses the alloy used were analyzed as covariates. Pre- and post-treatment scores were compared using the ANOVA method.
Results: The factor “gender” showed no significant influence (p=0.741). The factor “age” indicated a significant influence on the change of quality of life (p<0.05) resulting in greater impairments with increasing age. There was greater impairment before treatment in patients with only a few remaining teeth [removable partial or complete dentures OHIP-value (OV)=14.63 compared to nearly dentate patients OV=4.20]. Patients with crowns and/or fixed prostheses reported a significant improvement (OV=1.64 before treatment to 2.62 after treatment; p<0.01). In cases with double-crown retained dentures quality of life also improved significantly (OV=8.19 before treatment to 6.32 after treatment; p<0.012). This was especially true for crowns and fixed prostheses made of precious alloy (precious alloy OV=2.40 before treatment to 1.59 after treatment; p=0.031/ non-precious alloy OV=2.40 before treatment to 1.58 after treatment; p=0.180). Other removable partial dentures lead to no significant improvement (OV=8.32 before treatment to 7.38 after treatment; p=0.628).
Conclusions: As anticipated prosthodontic treatment improved the oral health related quality of life. However, the influence of the alloy used in crowns and fixed prostheses seems worth considering as this aspect has only been sparsely reported.