Multi-center research on prosthodontic treatment for patients with shortened dental arch

本研究旨在探讨牙弓缩短（SDA）患者咬合单位缺失与口腔健康相关生活质量的关系。SDA受试者于2006年6月在6所大学的口腔修复诊所连续招募一个月。总共有116例SDA受试者参与（平均年龄58.5 ± 10.0岁，71%为女性）。检查这些受试者缺失牙齿的位置和数量，并计算缺失咬合单位的数量（一个单位对应于一对咬合前磨牙;一对咬合磨牙对应于两个单位）。为了评价OHRQoL口腔健康影响量表（OHIP-J），对每名受试者进行了OHRQoL口腔健康影响量表（OHIP-J）的评估，并计算了OHIP-J的总分。回归分析研究缺失咬合单位（自变量）和OHIP-J汇总（因变量）之间的关联。分析显示，咬合单位缺失越多，OHIP-J总分越高，即，OHRQoL受损更严重。1个咬合单位缺失与增加1.9个OHIP-J单位相关（95%置信区间：0.3-3.6，P=0.03）。我们的研究结果表明，咬合单位缺失与牙弓缩短的受试者口腔健康相关的生活质量受损有关。

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between missing occlusal units and oral health-related quality of life in subjects with the shortened dental arch(SDA). The SDA subjects were recruited at 6 University-based prosthodontic clinics consecutively for one month (June, 2006). In total, 116 SDA subjects participated (mean age 58.5 +/- 10.0 yrs, 71% female). The location and number of missing teeth of these subjects were examined and the number of missing occlusal units (one unit corresponds to a pair of occluding premolars ; a pair of occluding molars corresponds to two units) was calculated. To evaluate OHRQoL Oral Health Impact Profile Japanese version (OHIP-J) was administered to each subject and the summary score of OHIP-J was calculated. A regression analysis investigated the association between missing occlusal units (independent variable) and the OHIP-J summary (dependent variable). The analysis revealed that more missing occlusal units were associated with a higher OHIP-J summary score, i.e., more impaired OHRQoL. One missing occlusal unit was related to an increase of 1.9 OHIP-J units (95% confidence interval : 0.3-3.6, P=0.03). Our results suggest that missing occlusal units are related to impaired oral health-related quality of life in subjects with a shortened dental arch.