A case report of long-term continuous application of a multi-axis assessment protocol in edentulous prosthetic treatment

Abstract

Patient: The patient was a 69-year-old woman with a chief complaint of masticatory function and esthetic disorder caused by wearing of complete dentures. Dentures meeting her functional and esthetic requirements were constructed and fitted in the patient three times, and the mastication ability and satisfaction of the patient before and after treatment were evaluated by a multi-axis assessment protocol (OHIP-J54, psychological health condition). We report the long-term continuous application of a multi-axis assessment protocol in edentulous prosthetic treatment.

Discussion: All assessments showed an improvement tendency by treatment for the chief complaint at the first visit. On the other hand, in the treatment for the chief complaint at the return visit, immediately after the treatment there was no improvement compared to the denture in use, but it was observed to improve with longer period of use. In addition, the psychological health condition tended to return to the worse state at 1 to 2 years after denture insertion compared to the condition at 1 to 3 months after insertion. In the subscale analysis of OHIP-J54, “Psychological discomfort” and “Psychological disability” tended to worsen over time. This was considered to be a main trigger for the remaking of dentures.

Conclusion: In cases suspected of having psychological health condition problems, it was shown that continuous evaluation of patient satisfaction, masticatory function, and a multi-axis assessment protocol are important.