The effect of complete dentures on edentulous patients’ oral health‑related quality of life in long‑term: A systematic review and meta‑analysis

To evaluate whether the long‑term use of complete dentures (CD) into promotes significant changes in the oral health‑related quality of life (OHRQoL) in edentulous patients.

A systematic review and meta‑analysis was conducted. A broad search in Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Grey Literature, clinical trials registers and manual search was done. The eligibility criteria were based on population, intervention, comparisons and outcome:(P) edentulous patients,(I) CDs rehabilitation,(C) OHRQoL after CD,(O) change in scores of OHRQoL. Two independent reviewers applied the eligibility criteria, collected qualitative data, performed methodological quality and evaluated the certainty of the evidence (grading of recommendations assessment, development and evaluation). The meta‑analysis was analyzed in RevMan 5.4 with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and P < 0.05.

A total of 2452 records were identified. Twenty‑four articles were included in qualitative synthesis. Nineteen studies were qualified as good, 3 as fair and 2 as poor quality. Twelve studies were included in quantitative analysis(meta‑analysis). The use of CD did not improved OHRQoL in a period of 3 months through the assessment of the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) instrument (P = 0.55; CI; 6.86 [−15.60, 29.31]), and Oral Health Impact Profile‑14 (OHIP‑14) (P = 0.05; CI; −14.91 [−29.87, 0.04]), with very low certainty of evidence. In a long term, 6 months, GOHAI instrument (P < 0.00001; CI; 16.22 [10.70, 21.74]), OHIP 20 (P = 0.02; CI; −11.09 [−20.54, −1.64]) and OHIP-EDENT (P = 0.0004; CI; −8.59 [−13.32, −3.86]) showed improvement on OHRQoL, with very low and low evidence of certainty, respectively.

CD has the strong potential to contribute to oral health‑related quality of life in long‑term.