Does Neuroticism Influence Oral Health–Related QOL in Patients with Removable Partial Dentures?

Abstract

This prospective cohort study investigated the relationship between patient neuroticism and oral healthrelated quality of life (OHRQoL) before and after prosthetic treatment as well as changes in OHRQoL-namely, treatment efficacy. Sixty-three patients (23 men and 40 women; mean age 67.2 ± 8.6 years), who were scheduled to receive new removable partial dentures (RPDs), were recruited. OHRQoL was assessed using the Japanese version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-J). The Japanese version of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was used to assess neuroticism. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the association between neuroticism and OHIP-J scores before and after treatment. After stratifying patients according to neuroticism score, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for intragroup comparison of OHIP-J scores before and after treatment. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of covariates on treatment efficacy such as age, sex, Eichner classification, neuroticism, changes in maximal occlusal force, and OHIP-J scores before treatment. Statistical analyses showed that higher neuroticism scores were associated with higher total OHIP-J scores before treatment (r = 0.41, P = 0.001) but were not associated with OHIP-J scores after treatment (r = 0.07, P = 0.566). When the effect of all independent variables was analyzed in multivariate analysis, neuroticism and OHIP-J scores before treatment affected treatment efficacy. These results suggest that OHRQoL of patients with higher levels of neuroticism was low before prosthetic treatment but significantly improved by oral rehabilitation with RPDs to the same level as patients with lower levels of neuroticism. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this study may change the clinical perception of the effect of prosthetic rehabilitation with removable partial dentures in patients with higher levels of neuroticism. The study concluded that prosthetic rehabilitation could contribute toward satisfaction even in neurotic patients, who are presumed to show less satisfaction with their oral status.

Effects of denture wearing on coordinated features of jaw and neck muscle activities during chewing in partially edentulous elderly patients

“…Functional restoration of chewing activities treated by denture wearing has been evaluated from various viewpoints, such as chewing ability [1,2], chewing movements and muscle activities [1][2][3][4], food choice and nutrition [5][6][7], and oral and physical quality of life [6,8,9]. Nevertheless, the effects of denture wearing on the coordinated features of jaw and neck muscles remain unclear in partially edentulous patients, though those muscle activities have been simultaneously examined in healthy dentate subjects during chewing [10][11][12][13], jaw clenching [11,14,15], and opening and closing jaw movements [16,17].…”

Personality and oral health-related quality of life. Results from an online survey

“…It is an important component of the overall health of individuals. A lower oral health-related quality of life can contribute to feelings of loneliness, social isolation or lower mental health However, to date, there is limited knowledge regarding the association between personality factors and oral health-related quality of life [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Personality factors commonly refer to the "big five": agreeableness (referring to altruism, and compliant behavior), conscientiousness (tendency to be goal-directed and to be careful), extraversion (tendency to be outgoing), neuroticism (referring to feelings of anxiety or depression, being impulsive) and openness to experience (tendency to be open to new ideas and experiences).…”