The Clinical Examination of Complete Dentures Concerning Patients' Satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between patients' satisfaction with and clinical examination of their complete dentures.Twenty-five patients who received complete denture treatment at the Dental Clinic of the Niigata University School of Dentistry, between 1983 and 1992 were selected.Patients' satisfaction with the following factors for their dentures was measured using a visual analog scale.1. total satisfaction2. appearance and aesthetics3. adaptation and stability of denture base4. occlusion5. speech condition6. condition of soft tissuesIn clinical examination, the quality of their dentures and anatomical condition of the oral cavity were assessed.The relation between the total satisfaction, individual factors of satisfaction and clinical examination were analyzed.The factors of patient satisfaction that changed first and the period of time on which these changes occurred after denture insertion were also investigated.The following results were obtained.1. A moderate correlation was found between total satisfaction and patients' satisfaction with adaptation, stability to maxillary denture base and appearance.2. Patients who wore their dentures during sleep tended to show low total satisfaction and excessive attrition of artificial teeth and denture plaque.3. The factors of patients' satisfaction that changed first were adaptation and stability of denture base: changes that occurred 28 to 62 months after the insertion of their dentures.