EFFECTS OF DENTURE-WEARING HABITS ON PERIODONTAL HEALTH OF ABUTMENT TEETH IN PATIENTS WITH OVERDENTURES

The effect of denture-wearing habits was studied in 31 overdenture wearers (17 day-and-night wearers, 14 day wearers) during a period of 5 years with controlled oral hygiene. Prior to prosthetic treatment, intensive instruction and motivation in oral hygiene were carried out and the patients were recalled 2-4 x yearly during the study period. Before treatment, mean plaque index (PlI) and gingival index (GI) were 1.5 and 1.6, respectively, in both groups of patients. During the study period, mean PlI and GI were 0.3-0.6 and 0.6-0.8, respectively, in the group of day wearers and 0.5-1.0 and 1.0-1.2, respectively, in the group of day-and-night wearers. With regard to the GI, this difference was statistically significant. Furthermore, during the study period, 20% of the abutment tooth surfaces showed attachment loss (1-4 mm) in the group of day-and-night wearers against 8% of the tooth surfaces in the group of day wearers. This difference was statistically significant. During the 5 years, 40 carious lesions developed in the group of day-and-night wearers against 3 in the group of day wearers. The results of this study have shown that day-and-night wearing of dentures is a major periodontitis and caries risk factor in complete overdenture wearers with controlled oral hygiene.