The relationship of oral mucosal lesions and removable prostheses: Quantitative and qualitative study

Abstract

Background/Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the development and distribution of denture-related oral mucosal lesions in patients using removable prosthesis by using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Material and Methods: A 21-item structured questionnaire form was used. Then, patients were evaluated for the presence and types of oral lesions. In the qualitative phase of the study, two focus group interviews were conducted with volunteers among participants of the quantitative part. The quantitative data were first evaluated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normal distribution. Chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test, t-test and logistic regression were used for statistical evaluation. Qualitative data analysis was manually performed by the content analysis method. Results: This study included 171 subjects. When the participants were classified as lesion and non-lesion groups, cigarette use and duration of prosthesis use were higher in patients with lesions. Denture-related lesions occurred in 46.2% of the participants; prosthetic stomatitis in 23.9% of the denture-related lesions, traumatic ulcer in 12.9%, epulis fissuratum in 9.9%, and angular cheilitis in 5.8%. Of the participants with lesions 72% (n=57) had a single lesion, while 28% (n=22) had multiple lesions. The duration of prosthesis use was longer in patients with lesions (p=0.022). The main themes determined in the qualitative stage were identified as "views on prosthesis use", "features related to prosthesis care", "information sources on prosthesis" and "proposals of participants". Conclusions: Current study shows that denture-related lesions are very common. Patients should be informed in detail and adequately by physicians and specialized nurses in this regard at every stage of treatment. A universal protocol will be very helpful to ensure that patients are provided with all necessary information about wearing dentures, their maintenance and the importance of regular check-ups. Informative meetings should be organized for wider patient groups in which patients may also interactively participate in, and studies to increase oral health literacy should be conducted. The cross-sectional assessment is not enough for risk assessment due to its nature and only declaration based assessment might miss the relations. Follow-up studies combined with qualitative studies with different approaches are needed.