Objectives: Besides oral health, other factors such as quality of life and patient satisfaction are important variables in clinical decision making. In this context the question concerning patient satisfaction with removable partial dentures might be a major issue.

Methods: The study design is that of a matched pairs case control study. This study compares the oral comfort of patients who received either fixed or removable partial dentures using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) questionnaire. The questionnaire comprises 49 questions in 7 subscales (functional limitation (FL), pain (P1), psychological discomfort (P2), physical disability (D1), psychological disability (D2), social disability (D3) und handicap (H)). From the records of our dental school pairs of patients were matched with respect to identical WHO age groups, gender and similar grades of tooth loss (Eichner classification) but wearing either removable partial dentures (study group) or fixed partial dentures (control). All patients received questionnaires by mail. Statistical analysis was done with the U-Test.

Results: From a total of 856 patient records 36 pairs removable / fixed partial dentures could be matched. The total response rate was 83%. In the study group the overall OHIP score was 31.0, in the control 34.5. The average scores of the seven subgroups were the following (subgroup: study group, control):

FL: 6.16, 7.61 / P1: 8.17, 9.96 / P2: 5.92, 5.06 / D1: 3.32, 2.99 / D2: 3.88, 5.12 / D3: 1.44, 1.33 / H: 2.13, 2.39.

Between the subgroups as well as between the overall scores no statistically significant differences were found between study group and control (p=0.12 bis 1.00).

Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study we could not find significant differences in the perceived oral comfort of patients treated with removable and fixed partial dentures

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