Comparison of Quality of Life Between Iranians Using Two Implant-Retained Overdenture Prosthesis and Conventional Complete Denture

Clinicians and policymakers are recognizing the importance of measuring health-related quality of life (HRQL) to inform patient management and policy decisions. With regard to relation between cultural differences and quality of life (QoL), in this study the QoL of Iranian patients with conventional complete denture and implant-retained overdenture prosthesis according to the increasing penchant of use of implant-retained overdenture prosthesis and lack of studies in this field in our country, has been compared. In this cross-sectional study, cluster sampling was conducted in two stages and 90 edentulous patients (45 patients with conventional complete dentures for two jaws (CD group) and 45 patients with a conventional maxillary complete dentures and implant-retained mandibular denture based on two intercanine implants (IOD group)) with the age of above 35 years were selected according to our inclusion criteria. After obtaining permission from the patients, who had been treated at the selected healthcare and medical treatment centers of Tehran, basic information was obtained by a checklist, including gender, age, educational status and housing status; and QoL was measured by a questionnaire of oral health impact profile (OHIP-20). In the group of IOD, 55.6% of the patients had “good” QoL vs. 46.7% of the patients in CD group. Three patients (6.6%) in both groups had “poor” QoL. No significant relationship was observed between demographic factors and different dimensions of QoL, except the average of “psychological disability” in the patients of CD group, which was higher in women. According to this study results, implant-retained overdenture prosthesis provided better QoL for Iranian patients.