A case: Oral function improvement by new dentures for an elderly patient with denture imcompatibility with oral hypofunction

Abstract

We report a case of an elderly patient who came to our department with a chief complaint of denture nonconformity, and we obtained good results by fabricating a denture with consideration for oral function. The patient was an 81-year-old woman. She came to our hospital with a complaint of denture nonconformity and difficulty in food intake. In 2015, a maxillary partial denture and a mandibular full denture were fabricated, and she had been using them without any problem for some time, but over time the dentures became unfit and she started experiencing difficulty in eating and eventually visited our department. At the time of her initial visit, the mandibular full-base denture was unstable and not well supported. Oral examination revealed poor oral hygiene, decreased tonguelip motility, decreased masticatory force, and decreased tongue pressure. Based on the above, we diagnosed her as hypofunction with mandibular denture incompatibility and performed oral function management including fabrication of a full mandibular denture. The mandibular denture was considered to be unstable due to the pressure from the lower lip, and the mandibular anterior teeth were aligned in consideration of the neutral zone to improve the stability of the denture. In addition, the outline of the denture base was set so that there would be no space between the tongue and the lingual mucosa of the mandibular denture. After the new dentures were fitted, the patient underwent a reevaluation of the oral function examination, and all the examination values improved.