Effect of loss of posterior teeth and tooth replacement on Quality of life(QoL)

Abstract

Background: Posterior tooth loss may result in impairment of masticatory function and subsequently oral health quality of life. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of posterior tooth loss and the effect of prosthetic replacement on the quality of life of the patient.
Methods: This study was carried out among patients between the ages 25 and 65years attending the Prosthetic Outpatient clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. It involved a total of 100 participants, cases were patients that required removable partial denture for missing posterior teeth, while the control included fully dentate individuals. Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) was
measured using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaires before denture placement and 3months after denture use.
Results: The most commonly missing posterior teeth were the first molars, the most frequently lost and replaced number of posterior teeth were two teeth. Mean OHIP-14 scores for all dimensions was reduced after treatment of cases with dentures, with significant reduction in physical, psychological and social disabilities and subsequent improvement in OHRQoL. The highest mean score of 3.160±
1.447 was recorded before treatment for the physical pain domain while the least score was 0.480 for both social and handicap  domains. Overall mean score for the cases (9.78±6.69) when compared with control (4.36±4.75) was relatively higher.
Conclusion: Increased number of tooth loss caused elevated and unfavorable scores of OHIP-14, removable partial denture succeeded in significantly improving the oral health related quality of life of subjects. The findings of this study underscores the importance of replacing missing posterior teeth.

Key words: posterior tooth loss, replacements, quality of life