Impact of Removable Partial Denture Type on Patient Satisfaction and Abutment Survival Rate-RCT

Patient's satisfaction and the preservation of abutments is the most important outcomes that the clinician seeks during fabrication of any dental treatment, especially when it is concerned with removable prosthodontic rehabilitation.

The present study evaluates three different Removable Partial Denture (RPD) types restoring mandibular class II modification I edentulous cases with regards to patient's satisfaction and abutments survival.

Forty-two partially edentulous patients were divided into three groups (Group I rehabilitated with Vitallium RPD, Group II rehabilitated with Vitallium RPD where the modification area restored with the surveyed bridge, Group III rehabilitated with Thermopress RPD). The patients were followed up for twenty-four months. Using a questionnaire, prosthodontic maintenance required was documented at the delivery and after 3 months.

There was a significant difference regarding patient satisfaction for group III (P-value <0.05) while for groups I and II there was a non-significant difference (P-value >0.05). Regarding the survival rate, there was a non-significant difference between the three groups (P-value >0.05) at the end of twenty-four months of follow up.

Patient satisfaction and abutment survival were better with Thermopress RPD than conventional Vitallium RPD or Vitallium RPD with a surveyed bridge restoring the modification area. Although a non-statistically significant difference was found in the survival rate of abutments between groups, a clinically important result was revealed as no abutments failures were reported in the Thermopress group.