Effect of physical and psychological status on oral health quality of life of geriatric patients undergoing complete denture treatment

AIM: The present study was conducted to evaluate differences in Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) in denture wearers based on psychological classification and patient satisfaction. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A prospective study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 284 patients, aged 30 years and above who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were recruited. Participants answered the OHIP – EDENT questionnaire at the time of denture insertion and 6 months later. Psychological categorization was based on MM House classification. Patient satisfaction was graded from totally satisfied to not very satisfied. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS 23 version was used for analyzing descriptive and inferential statistics. ANOVA was used to find significant differences for OHRQoL based on psychological classification and patient satisfaction. Before and after intervention analysis was assessed using student ‘t’ test. RESULTS: Philosophical and exacting patients had better adaptation to dentures than the hysterical and indifferent class of denture wearers. Totally satisfied and very satisfied patients with dentures had lesser mean scores as against the other categories which was significant in all domains suggesting better. Overall, OHIP – EDENT score decreased from 20.253 ± 12.466 to 17.168 ± 14.143, which were significant at P =0.043, thus showing an improvement after a 6 month follow up. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological attitude of denture wearers must be considered by the prosthetic specialist for effective adaptation and acceptance by the edentulous patient.