The Relationship Between Denture-Wearing and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index in a Group of Institutionalised Romanian 65- 74 Year Olds

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relation between prosthetic status and quality of life of a group of institutionalised 65-74 year olds using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index. Methods: In 2010, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in Iasi, Romania, among a convenience sample of 161 residents aged 65-74 years from the St. Parascheva Retirement Centre (118 [73%] females, 43 [27%] males). They were divided in three groups according to the type of prostheses: Group 1=people with complete dentures, Group 2=people with removable partial dentures, and Group 3=people with fixed or no prostheses. The subjects were clinically examined according to World Health Organization 1997 criteria by two calibrated dentists and their oral health-related quality of life was assessed using the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) questionnaire. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the relevant authority. The resulting data were entered in to a statistical software program, for a statistical significance threshold at P<0.05. Analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results: The most affected quality of life dimension was discomfort when eating any kind of food, reported by 110 (68%) of subjects, most of them for Group 1 (n=55, 34%). Social limitation was less of a problem, with 22 (14%) reporting that they did not feel comfortable eating in front of others. The least affected items were the need to use medication for oral pain, reported by only three (2%) subjects, and problems with swallowing comfortably, reported by only one (1%) subject. When comparing the three groups of subjects with the Kruskal-Wallis test, the most numerous negative answers were given by the patients with removable prostheses, first of all by the totally edentulous (Group 1), followed by the partially edentulous (Group 2). Spearman correlation analysis showed a statistically significant correlation between the clinical indicator: groups according to prosthesis status and GOHAI 1 and GOHAI 5, which relate to physical limitation and oral discomfort (r=0.583 and r=0.576, respectively,). Social indicators such as gender and age had a moderate correlation with GOHAI 1, which relates to physical dimension (r=0.356 and r=0.240, respectively). For social (GOHAI 6) and psychological dimensions (GOHAI 9), there was only a significant correlation with social indicator age (r=0.389). Conclusions: In the subjects studied, wearing complete or partial removable dentures was a better predictor of a negative impact on quality of life of institutionalised 65-74 year olds in Iasi, Romania, than social and psychological indicators.