Impact of Compensating Curves on Mastication of Complete Denture Wearers: A Randomised Triple-Blind Clinical Trial.

Introduction: The application of occlusal concepts in prosthodontics is still under debate.This study assessed the impact of compensating curves on the comminution of complete denture wearers.

Methods: Seven edentulous subjects, aged 64.6 ± 2.0 years, were rehabilitated with new muco-supported complete dentures and tested in two occlusal plane settings: with and without compensating curves. A randomised triple-blind clinical trial was conducted, considering one-week and one-month as adaptation periods for dentures. After each trial, the subjects were crossed over to their respective groups. One-week was also chosen as the washout period, and after that, the subjects were re-examined. The masticatory performance and swallowing threshold were determined while chewing Optocal test food. The multiple sieve method was used for fractionation and granulometry.

Results: During the masticatory performance and swallowing threshold estimates, no differences were found between the median particle sizes obtained with the both occlusal plane conditions (P ⟩ 0.05). However, the swallowing threshold improved after one month, resulting in smaller particle sizes. Moreover, the chewing rates for the both test foods were also increased (P ⟨ 0.05).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the compensating curves did not have an impact on the masticatory function of subjects wearing complete dentures.