Effect of Oral Rehabilitation With Complete Dentures on Head Posture and Body Balance: A Systematic Review

To investigate the relationship between the use of maxillary and mandibular complete dentures, head posture, and postural stability in edentulous older adults.

Tooth loss can negatively impact both head posture and postural stability, increasing the risk of falls. Complete dentures (CD) may restore balance by improving occlusion and supporting head and neck alignment, but their full impact on balance is still unclear.

An electronic search was performed in PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Embase up to June 2024. A search strategy was developed based on the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome framework. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool, and the certainty of the evidence was evaluated with the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach.

Eight clinical trials were included, involving 167 participants aged 40 to 82 years. Most studies reported improvements in head posture and postural stability immediately after rehabilitation with complete dentures, with trends showing increased cranio-vertical angles, improved dynamic stability, faster walking speed, and reduced center of gravity sway, some of which persisted for up to 30 days. The certainty of evidence was moderate for body balance and very low for head posture.

Oral rehabilitation with CD appears to provide immediate improvements in head posture and body balance in edentulous individuals, potentially enhancing safety and reducing the risk of falls. However, further studies are needed to evaluate long-term effects and standardise methodologies.