Quality of life of patients without teeth, which are prosthetized

BACKGROUND: High-quality rehabilitation of patients without teeth is one of the urgent problems in dentistry today. Owing to the growing number of older patients and the need for quality treatment, the most physiologically accurate complete removable dentures that meet the needs of patients and reduce negative effects after treatment must be manufactured.

AIM: To determine and compare the effect of complete removable dentures, made by computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing methods, on the quality of life of patients without teeth.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The clinical study involved 60 older patients (aged >60 years) without upper and lower teeth. These patients were randomly divided into two equal groups. In the first group, removable dentures were manufactured using digital technologies. In the second group, removable dentures were made by traditional technology. The quality of life of all patients before and after treatment was evaluated using the OHIP-14 questionnaire.

RESULTS: More positive assessments were noted in the change in the state after prosthetics with full removable dentures made by digital technology. With approximately total equal indicators of the questionnaire, the best values of the clinical effect were found in the digital technology for making prostheses with 3.74 versus 1.19. When comparing individual categories, eating problems, communication problems, everyday living problems, and clinical performance were markedly higher with digital manufacturing technology.

CONCLUSION: The clinical efficacy of treatment with prostheses made using digital technology is on average approximately 3.14 times higher (p <0.001) than that in orthopedic rehabilitation using prostheses made by analog traditional technology. Thus, better clinical results are obtained in patients using prostheses made by the proposed technology for making complete removable dentures.