Better oral health related quality of life: type of prosthesis or psychological robustness?

Sense of coherence (SOC) is an individual-based coping characteristic and believed to influence a person's ability to adapt to life stressors, such as edentulism and using complete denture. Thus, SOC may mediate the effect of prosthetic treatment on quality of life.

1. To simultaneously test the effect of type of treatment and sense of coherence on oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) in edentate elders and to identify any interaction. 2. To report the level of sense of coherence among a sample of edentate elders.

Data were collected and analysed cross-sectionally at a 1-year follow-up from 173 edentulous elders who had randomly received mandibular-implant overdentures or conventional dentures, both opposed by new conventional maxillary dentures. The dependent outcome variable, oral health related quality of life, was measured using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-20). Independent variables included SOC and prosthesis type, as well as socio-demographic variables. SOC was evaluated using the 13-item likert scale of The Orientation to Life questionnaire.

The group mean SOC score was 70.28 (SD=9.6). Married or coupled people had significantly higher SOC scores than those who were separated, single or divorced (p=0.04). General linear model analyses demonstrated that there was a statistically significant main effect for type of prosthesis, F(1.169)=0.71, p=0.008, with no interaction with SOC.

The results of this study suggest that, in edentulous elders, SOC does not mediate the effect of the type of prosthetic treatment on oral health related quality of life.