Does age influence on the satisfaction of complete denture wearers?

Abstract

The oral rehabilitation with complete dentures is a treatment capable to return the people who had great dental loss, the chewing function, the phonetics and the esthetics. However, the improvement of preventive dentistry associated to the increase of life quality and expectancy, the use of these prostheses by young adults has become less common. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the influence of age on the satisfaction degree of complete denture patients, since, along with the age, people tend to feel less valued and more dependent and the loss of the teeth is a factor that can influence their self-esteem. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of age on 170 toothless patients, wearing complete superior and inferior prostheses. In order to accomplish this research, a questionnaire was applied, containing the satisfaction related to the appearance, retention, chewing ability, taste speaking and comfort. A score was elaborated then. With the sumo f the values of this score, the patients were divided in satisfied and dissatisfied. Regarding the age, the patients were divided in three categories: up to 60, from 61 to 70 and more than 70 years old. The data obtained were submitted to the Qui-Square test. From the patients assessed, 116 were women and 54 men, with average age of 65,3 years; 22 patients were satisfied and 148 dissatisfied with their prosthesis, without significant difference of the satisfaction with the complete dentures wear as a result of age (p = 0,331). It is concluded then that, age did not influence the degree of satisfaction of the patient wearing complete dentures. Key words: Complete denture. Age groups. Patient satisfaction.