ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT DENTURE BASE MATERIALS ON PATIENT SATISFACTION AND MASTICATORY EFFICIENCY

Abstract

Background: The loss of natural teeth adversely affects mastication, speech, facial appearance, and overall quality of life. Complete dentures continue to be the most common treatment option for restoring oral function and esthetics in edentulous individuals. The success of complete dentures depends largely on the properties of the denture base material used in their fabrication Objective: To assess the impact of different denture base materials on patient satisfaction and masticatory efficiency among complete denture wearers. Methodology: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in the Department of Prosthodontics of a tertiary care dental hospital. A total of 120 completely edentulous patients wearing maxillary and mandibular complete dentures for at least six months were included through consecutive sampling. Participants were divided into three groups according to denture base material: conventional heat-cured polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), flexible nylon-based dentures, and CAD/CAM milled dentures. Patient satisfaction was evaluated using a structured questionnaire assessing comfort, retention, esthetics, speech, and overall satisfaction. Masticatory efficiency was measured using a standardized peanut-chewing test. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Mean scores were compared using one-way ANOVA, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 63.4±8.2 years. CAD/CAM denture wearers demonstrated the highest overall satisfaction score (8.7±0.9), followed by conventional PMMA dentures (7.9±1.1) and flexible dentures (7.2±1.3) (p<0.001). Mean masticatory efficiency scores were significantly higher among CAD/CAM denture users (82.5±9.4%), compared to PMMA (75.1±10.8%) and flexible dentures (68.7±11.6%) (p<0.001). Retention and comfort scores were also significantly greater among CAD/CAM denture wearers. Conclusion: Denture base material significantly influences patient satisfaction and masticatory efficiency. CAD/CAM milled dentures exhibited superior performance compared to conventional PMMA and flexible denture bases, suggesting improved clinical outcomes and patient acceptance.