Influence of minimally invasive implant-retained overdenture on patients' quality of life: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this prospective, randomized clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of a minimally invasive implant procedure for denture stabilization on patients' quality of life (QoL). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty totally edentulous patients were selected for this study. All prostheses were adjusted and relined before randomization and allocation to treatment either with two small diameter implants (SDI) - retained overdenture (study group) or non-intervention group (control group). Quality of life was assessed using the Oral Health Impact Profile-EDENT (OHIP-EDENT) questionnaire before intervention and at one-year follow-up. Between-group comparisons were carried out using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: Magnitude of change in the OHIP-EDENT total score at one-year follow-up was 25.4 +/- 10.7 for the study group, revealing a statistically significant difference with the control group, that showed a change of 9.5 +/- 8.3 (P = < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: After one-year follow-up, patients wearing mandibular overdentures with two minimally invasive splinted SDI, experienced more improvements in perceived oral health-related quality of life, than patients having conventional treatment.