[Relationship between food mixing ability and oral health-related quality of life in partially edentulous patients].

Abstract

Purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between food mixing ability and oral health-related quality of life (OHR QoL) in partially edentulous patients with removable partial dentures. One hundred and thirty one patients (mean age 67.1 years) participated in this study. The subjects comprised patients who were treated with removable partial dentures (RPDs) in an undergraduate program (n=52), those who were receiving oral maintenance care (n=57) and those who planned to replace current RPDs with new ones (n=22), and OHR QoL was measured using the oral health impact profile-Japanese version (OHIP-J). To evaluate food mixing ability, the subjects were asked to chew a two-colored paraffin wax cube as a test item. Mixing ability index was determined from the color mixture and shape of the chewed cube. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to test the relationship between mixing ability index and scores of OHIP-J. No significant correlations were found between mixing ability index and scores of OHIP-J in each group (p>0.08). The results suggest that association between food mixing ability and OHR QoL life is very weak in partially edentulous patients with RPDs.