Methods: 129 men and 114 women (mean age 63 ± 11.3 years) with removable dentures were clinically examined. Oral hygiene status and the form of prosthodontic rehabilitation were ascertained. A questionnaire gave information about social contacts, marital and social status, syndromes, oral hygiene habits, frequency of undergoing dental service and contendedness with dentures. Psychological constitution was measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS from Sheik and Yesavage 1986). The statistical evaluation was made by Fisher`s-Exact-Test, Chi-Square-Test with independant variables, Wilcoxon- and Kruskal-Wallis-Test: p<0.05. Results: 17.9% of all patients suffered from a light or medium depression (GDS value: 5≤10) and 0.8% from a heavy one (GDS value: >10), 22.7% of those were men and 14.3% women. These patients had worse oral hygiene than the healthy ones (p=0.019). Higher GDS values were correlated with age (p=0.33), missing partners(p=0.005), rare social contacts (p=0.000), worse state of health (p=0.002), lower income (p=0.005), discontent with dentures (p=0.009), fewer remaining teeth (p=0.000) and a worse estimation of their oreal health related quality of life (p=0.003).
Conclusions: The results showed numerous correlations between GDS and bio-social factors. These potential risk factors should be tried to be ascertained by an extensive case history. Since patients with light or medium depression showed worse oral hygiene and a higher discontent with their dentures than healthy ones (29.8% to 13%), dentists should give more attention to these patients and carefully explain therapy and dentures before starting treatment.