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Background: This work aims to confirm if implant-supported overdentures are a good treatment option for edentulous patients and offer an improvement in quality of life compared with traditional complete prostheses (dentures).
Material and Methods: This retrospective clinical descriptive study included three evaluation groups: validation
group (n=57); control group of patients with complete removeable prostheses (n=56); study group of patients with
implant-supported overdentures retained with the Locator® system (n=80). The study also validated the Oral
Health Impact Profile-20 questionnaire. Individual protocols were created that included socio-demographic data,
the Oral Health Impact Profile-20 (OHIP-20) questionnaire and Oral Satisfaction Scale (OSS). Descriptive and
bivariate statistical analysis was carried out applying χ², Pearson, Kruskal-Wallis, and Student t tests, transferring
data into SPSS-Windows® software from a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet.
Results: The OHIP-20 proved to be a valid instrument and provided reliable assessment of health-related quality
of life among both the Spanish general population and edentulous patients. The control and study groups proved
comparable, showing socio-demographic homogeneity. For patients with overdentures retained by means of the
Locator® system, these restorations had significantly lower impact on quality of life (19 vs 33), both generally and
for each individual questionnaire item, and much higher satisfaction with the state of their oral cavities (8.3 vs 5.3)
than patients wearing dentures; both sets of data showed a direct linear relationship, so that as the level of impact
on quality of life increased, perceived oral satisfaction worsened.
Conclusions: Patients rehabilitated with implant supported overdentures retained by the Locator® system, presented
significantly lower levels of impact on their quality of life and significantly higher oral satisfaction than patients with
conventional complete prostheses.
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