Objectives: 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.
Materials and 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).
Conclusion: 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.
Keywords: complete dentures; edentulism; spirometric evaluation.
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S and The Gerodontology Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.