How Does Immediately Loaded Implant-Supported Fixed Rehabilitation Influence the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life?

Aim: To test the null hypothesis that implant-supported fixed immediately loaded rehabilitation of partial or total edentulism has no impact on oral health-related quality of life against the alternative hypothesis of an impact. Materials and Method: Partially and totally edentulous patients were recruited following exclusion and inclusion criteria. After an accurate pre-surgical planning, dental implants were inserted and immediately loaded with partial or full-arch rehabilitations. Patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire (OHIP-14) before surgery, 3 months and 3 years after prosthetic loading. The significance of the difference in OHIP score at different time points was evaluated. Results: Twenty-one patients were treated with immediately loaded partial or total implant-supported fixed prostheses: eighteen patients completed the three-year follow up period, during which three patients dropped out. Five implants out of 82 (3-year survival rate 93,9%) were lost in four patients with one prosthetic failure (3-year survival rate 94.5%). Mean value of OHIP-14 score was significantly higher at baseline than at the end of the follow-up period. Furthermore, baseline scores were different when comparing full-arch and partial rehabilitations, even if not significantly. Conclusion: The results of this prospective cohort study suggested that oral health-related quality of life was significantly improved by immediately loaded implant-supported fixed prosthesis. A gradual improvement in OHIP-14 scores was observed both for partial and full-arch rehabilitations, from the three-month follow up to the final evaluation after three years. However, intergroup differences were significant only when comparing baseline with the final observations.