ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Two interforaminal dental implants in is a common treatment option for denture retention in edentulous patients. Economic methods to assess the patient's quality of life include the willingness to pay (WTP) for implant treatment and willingness to accept (WTA) to forgo implant treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the monetary value of implant retained complete dentures using WTP and WTA. METHODS: We included a convenience sample of 16 patients from a previously published cohort study on the survival of immediately loaded implants in edentulous patients to assess WTP and WTA for this treatment option. RESULTS: The average maximum WTP for implant treatment was 4606 (95% CI: 2991-6222) Swiss Francs. Out of the 16 patients, only 5 were willing to trade their implants for money, with a mean WTA of CHF 33'500 (range: 3000-100'000).All patients would agree to undergo the implant surgery procedure again. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show that most patients are not willing to trade the increase in quality of life after implant surgery against money, suggesting that WTA exceeds by large WTP for the same health condition.
ABSTRACT
In December 2013, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has placed Switzerland for the first time at the top of the list of countries general population life ex- pectancy. The augmenting life expectancy and demographic changes are leading to an increase in the number of older people who are dependent on care (Höpflinger & Hugentobler 2003, Höpflinger et al. 2011). Multimorbidity and the resulting polypharmacy have inevitable consequences for the oral health and present a challenge for dentists (Fried et al. 2001). As dental treatment for multimorbid and bedridden adults can be quite complex, it seems necessary also from a dental perspective to detect age-related defi- ciencies as early as possible. If depression, dementia or malnutrition is suspected, an immediate referral to a specialist physician is recommended for an in-depth assessment and treatment. For older adults in particular, dental measures alone do not necessarily lead to an improvement in well-being and nutritional state.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of tooth loss on gait stability in a healthy elderly population. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted among healthy and prosthetically well-restored seniors over the age of 65 years. The test group comprised 24 edentulous participants who were restored with complete dentures in the upper jaw and an overdenture fixed on two implants in the lower jaw. The control group comprised 25 dentate participants who either still had their natural teeth or were restored with conventional fixed partial dentures. Gait stability was evaluated by measuring the parameters 'gait velocity' and 'cycle-time variability' during self-selected normal walking speed and under dual-task performance conditions. Measurements were conducted using the GAITRite(®) electronic walkway system. RESULTS: Dentated and fixed restored participants (the control group) had a significantly higher gait velocity compared with denture wearers (the test group) under both normal walking (p = 0.03) and dual-task performance conditions (p = 0.01). In each test condition, among edentulous participants, gait velocity did not significantly differ according to whether the participant wore their dentures. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that tooth loss in healthy seniors is associated with lower gait velocity and therefore may have a negative impact on gait stability.
