Rehabilitation of Edentulism and Mortality: A Systematic Review

Purpose: It has been shown that tooth loss is associated with an increased risk of early mortality, and that prosthetic rehabilitation of edentulism improves quality of life and reduces morbidity. This review examines association between prosthetic rehabilitation of the edentulous state with a complete denture and mortality.

Methods: A systematic search using combinations of related keywords for "complete denture" and "mortality" was performed on PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. A reference search of included articles and author contacts was also performed.

Results: None of the studies reported results for association between mortality and wearing complete dentures among edentulous individuals; however, based on the published methods and results, a total of 15 studies were found to be eligible for author contacts to obtain relevant data. Overall, 5 eligible studies were included and critically evaluated to summarize their findings. The follow-up period in these studies ranged from 3 to 24 years, and the age group of included samples ranging from 52 to 105 years. The proportion of individuals not wearing dentures ranged from 3.0% to 13.3%. Four of the included studies showed fewer individuals without complete dentures surviving over the follow-up years as compared to the group wearing complete dentures. One of two studies that could adjust for certain confounders found no significant difference in mortality after adjusting, but another study found a 42% reduced risk of dying among those wearing complete dentures, as compared to those not wearing complete dentures after adjusting for age, sex, educational level, smoking, alcohol drinking, body mass index, time spent walking daily, medical history, psychological distress score, energy intake, and protein intake. Due to the small sample size of nondenture wearers, it was not possible to analyze with statistical rigor the comparative risk of dying associated with wearing or not wearing complete dentures.

Conclusion: Most of the included studies indicated a higher proportion of deceased edentulous patients not using dentures as compared to denture wearers. Nevertheless, small sample size prevents a definite conclusion being drawn regarding a relationship between prosthetic rehabilitation and mortality among edentulous individuals.