Effects of complete dentures on respiratory performance: spirometric evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
There is a lack of data regarding whether edentulous subjects should remove dentures during spirometric measurements or not. The purpose of this study is to determine influences of complete dentures on spirometric parameters in edentulous subjects.


METHODS
A total of 46 complete denture wearers were included in this study. Respiratory functions of the subjects were evaluated by spirometric tests that were performed in four different oral conditions: without dentures (WOD), with dentures, lower denture only and upper denture only. Forced vital capacity (FVC), peak expiratory flow, forced expiratory volume in 1 s and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% were evaluated. The data were analyzed with Friedman, Wilcoxon and paired-samples t tests (α = 0.05).


RESULTS
Significant differences were found between spirometric parameters in different oral conditions (p < 0.05). In all spirometric parameters, the most important significant differences were found between conditions WOD, FVC and with lower dentures (FVC), and WOD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s) and with upper dentures (forced expiratory volume in 1 s) (p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
It was observed that complete dentures may unfavourably affect spirometric values of edentulous subjects. However, current findings need to be confirmed with advanced respiratory function tests.
Department of Prosthodontics, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
Bulent
B
Piskin
Cumhur
C
Sipahi
Omer
O
Karakoc
Arzu
A
Atay
Faruk
F
Ciftci
Canturk
C
Tasci
Hakan
H
Akin
Volkan
V
Arisan
Haldun
H
Sevketbeyoglu
Turker
T
Turker
D015992:Body Mass Index; D003824:Denture, Complete; D003826:Denture, Complete, Lower; D003827:Denture, Complete, Upper; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008450:Maximal Midexpiratory Flow Rate / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009066:Mouth, Edentulous / Q000503:physiopathology; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate / Q000502:physiology; D012119:Respiration; D013147:Spirometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014797:Vital Capacity / Q000502:physiology