Occlusal Support Affects the QOL and ADL in Elderly Patients

Objectives: Since advanced countries are becoming an aging society in the near future, it is important to establish strategies for realizing people's healthy long lives. The aim of this study was to clarify the impact of occlusal support on the QOL and ADL in elderly patients.

Methods: Subjects were 127 consecutive outpatients of our department who were older than 60 years at the first visit (47 males and 80 females, mean age: 69.8 years). All subjects underwent thorough occlusal evaluation including Eichner's classification and self-administered questionnaires which consisted of Chewing Satisfaction Index (CSI), Lawton's morale scale (PGC), Health Practice Index (HPI), Life Satisfaction Index (LSI), and Activity of Daily Living (ADL, both physical and social). The impact of occlusal support on the QOL and ADL was statistically evaluated with ANOVA, Dunnett's test, Student's t-test, and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient using SPSS 12.0J.

Results: No significant differences in CSI, PGC, HPI, LSI, and physical and social ADLs were found among Eichner's A1 groups with and without fixed partial dentures, A2 group, A3 group, and B1 group. However, a group of Eichner's B2 and lower showed significantly lower scores in CSI (P=.050), LSI (P=.019), and physical ADL (P=.03) than A1 group without fixed partial dentures. Denture wearers showed significantly lower scores in CSI (P=.004) and social ADL (P=.003) than no denture wearers. There were no significant gender differences in any scores. The number of remaining teeth showed significant positive correlations between CSI, HPI, LIS and physical and social ADLs.

Conclusions: The results of this study revealed that the number of remaining teeth and occlusal support are critical in elderly for obtaining higher QOL and ADL, suggesting that not only preserving teeth but also preserving occlusal support could improve the QOL and ADL in elderly patients.