The effect of using dentures in the improvement of lifestyle among the elderly population of Isfahan, Iran

The elders are one of the most important refers to the oral and dental health centers. The elders are the part of people that are in need of special care. Attending to the oral and dental health status in mentioned group is very essential with regard to the life quality. This was a descriptive, analytic and cross sectional research. 200 elders between 55-80 years of Isfahan geriatric keeping center were selected. The Persian translation and valid GOHAI questionnaire in 3 dimensions was used. Data were evaluated by t-test variance analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient. The mean of GOHAI score among the target group was 36.3 ± 21.65. The mean of GOHAI score in the physical function was highest in edentulous without denture wearing group (89.5.51 ± 169.38). The highest GOHAI score in pain and sickness dimension was in dentate with partial denture wearing group (45.08 ± 15.43). The highest GOHAI score in psychosocial dimension was in edentulous without denture wearing (54.54 ± 30.12). The study of mean GOHAI score in three physical, pain and sickness and psycho social function indicated that there is a relationship between the number of remaining teeth, existence or non existence of the complete or partial denture retention and the years of effective factors on life quality with regard to oral health. In the present study, the highest GOHAI score belonged to the physical function in target group. This finding indicated that the greatest problem of elders is related to the chewing and biting of foods. The people who had lost all of their teeth, had higher GOHAI scores and also, the elders used complete or partial removable dentures or were not satisfied with their denture, obtained higher GOHAI scores.