Assessment of swallowing and suprahyoid muscle activity in completely edentulous patients before and after rehabilitation with complete dentures.

Abstract

Aim: To assess swallowing status using jaw opening force (JOF) and the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the suprahyoid muscles during swallowing in complete denture patients before and after rehabilitation.

Setting and design: The Study design was a prospective clinical study conducted at Sri Ramachandra Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, Tamilnadu.

Materials and methods: The study participants included 30 completely edentulous patients. Removable complete dentures were fabricated for all the participants. JOF and surface EMG activity of the suprahyoid muscles were evaluated. The JOF was evaluated for all participants using an instrument called an extraoral forcemeter. The patients were recalled for review and the investigations were done at three time intervals: before insertion of complete dentures(T1), 1 week after insertion of complete dentures(T2), and 3 months after insertion of complete dentures (T3). During the postinsertion evaluation period (T2 and T3), the patients were evaluated with and without the complete dentures.

Statistical analysis used: The JOF and EMG activity at 1 week and 3 months (with and without dentures) were analyzed using a paired t test and independent t test, respectively. The JOF and EMG activity at baseline, 1 week, and 3 months (with and without dentures) considering gender were analyzed using mixed design repeated measures ANOVA followed by adjustment for multiple pairwise comparisons using Bonferroni test. Bivariate correlation was performed between JOF and EMG activity using Pearson's correlation.

Results: Multiple pairwise comparisons of JOF and EMG between various intervals (T1, T2, and T3) with or without wearing the denture revealed that the mean difference was found to be statistically significant ( P < 0.05) for JOF and EMG values. The mean difference between genders at various time points was statistically insignificant for JOF both with ( P = 0.182) and without dentures ( P = 0.082) but was statistically significant ( P < 0.05) for EMG values with and without dentures. Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis revealed a positive linear correlation.

Conclusion: Rehabilitation of completely edentulous patients with complete dentures will have a significant effect on the suprahyoid muscle activity thus improving their swallowing function. JOF measurements may serve as a useful adjunctive parameter for evaluating swallowing function in the clinical settings, further studies with dedicated diagnostic validation are required.