Influence of Wearing Complete Dentures on Body Balance in Elderly

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of wearing complete dentures on postural control by considering gait and body sway. Methods: The sample consisted of volunteer group of 21 patients, 9 men and 12 women with a mean age of 74.4 years, wearing complete dentures, who came to the dental hospital of Tokyo Medical and Dental University for a renewal of their dentures. To investigate the influence of wearing dentures, we set two experimental conditions: wearing dentures (C1) and without dentures (C2). Gait was evaluated by gait cycle, velocity and stride which were derived from measurements of three-dimensional accelerations and angular velocity of center of gravity (COG) during 20m free walking using an accelerometer. Body sway was measured with a stabilometer, evaluated by recording of locus of COG throughout 60 seconds in standing posture. The means of the measurements were statistically compared with paired t-test (p<.05). Results: The gait velocity and stride were significantly increased at C1 relative to the C2 measurements. The length of locus of COG observed at C2 was significantly longer than C1. Conclusions: These results suggested that wearing dentures could affect the postural control during walking and standing. Wearing dentures may help self-reliant life and improving quality of social life of elderly.