Factors Affecting the Satisfaction of Elderly Denture Wearers

Purpose: This study aimed to define the relationship between satisfaction of wearing denture and three factors (“easy to chew”, “retention in chewing”, “absence of pain”), as well as the missing teeth pattern with Miyachi classification, the chewing ability. Methods: A total of 256 subjects (born in 1927) living in Niigata city, Japan who had answered a questionnaire survey in 2007 on the relationship between oral health and health status were selected for this study. Satisfaction with dentures and three factors (“easy to chew”, “retention in chewing”, and “absence of pain”) were evaluated with the VAS score. This study also investigated grouping the pattern of missing teeth based on the Miyachi classification. In addition, a questionnaire was conducted to investigate whether the elderly people could chew around 15 different food items or not. Result: It was clearly shown that satisfaction with dentures was correlated with the three points of chewing easily, stability, and pain-free among elderly people. However, none of the three points showed a far stronger correlation than the others. The results also showed that there was no relation between the missing teeth pattern classified with the Miyachi classification and satisfaction with dentures. The results of the questionnaire revealed that the number of food items taken by the elderly people was significantly lower in the group not satisfied with dentures than the other groups (Excellent, good, poorly satisfaction group). Conclusion: It was confirmed that chewing easily, stability and pain-free enhance satisfaction with dentures. However, satisfaction with dentures was not ascribed to the pattern of missing teeth; accordingly, we consider that we can keep elderly people satisfied by fabricating good dentures and performing appropriate adjustments regardless of difficult patterns of missing teeth.