Statement of problem: Caries and periodontal disease are the most common cause of tooth loss in overdenture populations. Longitudinal data on attachment loss in this population have not been well reported.
Purpose: The purpose of this longitudinal study was to measure periodontal attachment loss in overdenture abutments.
Material and methods: In this longitudinal overdenture study, 272 persons fulfilled all of the inclusion criteria. These persons had 662 teeth, 465 (70.2%) of which were canines. This report focused only on participants with canines who returned for 3 consecutive recalls in the 42 months of the study and included 53 persons with 116 canines. During this 42-month period, 6 teeth were extracted. Attachment loss was measured at baseline and at 6 to 18 months, 19 to 30 months, and 31 to 42 months at the mesial, distal, mid-buccal, and mid-lingual surface of each tooth, and was calculated as the combination of pocket probing depth plus height above the gingiva. Attachment loss was compared at each recall. A single examiner made all the measurements.
Results: At baseline, the greatest amount of loss was at the mid-buccal surface (5.43 mm), followed by the mid-lingual (4.95 mm), distal (4.41 mm), and mesial (4.35 mm) surfaces. This pattern of attachment loss did not change over the 3 time periods, except that, at the 6 to 18-month recall, the distal measurement was less than at baseline. This decrease could be due to the wear of the abutment or loss of a restoration due to caries. Attachment loss was greater on the mandibular abutments than on the maxillary abutments and could be due to the greater amount of movement of the mandibular overdenture, especially in a buccolingual direction.
Conclusion: Attachment loss varied by arch and by site in patients who wore overdentures.
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