[Impact of prosthetic care on oral health related quality of life].

Patients' perception of oral health can be characterized by Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL). Therefore, it should be able to be used to measure their perceived benefits of prosthodontic treatment. Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) is one of the technically most sophisticated and most widely used instruments measuring OHRQoL. The aim of this study was to measure the impact of prosthodontic treatment on Oral Health Related Quality of Life. The Hungarian version of OHIP (OHIP-H 53) was applied for a sample of 63 prosthodontic patients at baseline, and at 1 as well as at 6 and 12 months following treatment. OHRQoL impairment is characterized by OHIP-H 53 scores. A linear regression model was used to estimate the rate of improvement of OHRQoL in different prosthodontic treatment groups (FPD, RPD and CD) at baseline and at follow-ups. OHRQoL improved rapidly within 1 month after treatment (76% of patients) and it underwent further but moderate improvement within the following 6 to 12 months after treatment in subjects with fixed, removable and complete dentures (90%) as indicated by the reduced OHIP-H scores. The largest improvement was observed in patients treated with fixed prosthodontics. Patients receiving removable or complete dentures had poorer OHRQoL than respondents treated with fixed prosthodontics. It can be concluded that OHRQoL can be improved by prosthodontic treatment, especially by using fixed prosthodontics. Besides considering clinical factors in prosthodontics, subjective conditions should also be involved in treatment planning in order to achieve a higher rate of acceptance of prosthetic care by the patient.