The impact of splinting mobile mandibular incisors on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life-Preliminary observations from a randomized clinical trial.

AIM: To compare the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of patients with mobile mandibular incisors before and after full-mouth disinfection (FMD) with and without splinting. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-four periodontitis patients with >/=1 mobile mandibular incisor (degree II/III) were randomly allocated to the test or control group. All patients received FMD and the test group additional splinting of teeth 33-43. OHRQoL was assessed before (BL) and 3 months after FMD (RE) using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14. Data were compared within and between the groups (Wilcoxon test/Mann-Whitney U test). RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients (13 test group/15 control group) were re-evaluated. FMD led to a reduction of the mean probing pocket depth (PPD; in mm) (test group: BL-PPD 3.89 +/- 1.03, RE-PPD 2.82 +/- 0.53; control group: BL-PPD 3.58 +/- 0.66, RE-PPD 2.77 +/- 0.59; each p </= .001), the mean clinical attachment level (CAL; in mm) (test group: BL-CAL 5.22 +/- 1.38, RE-CAL 4.79 +/- 0.85; control group: BL-CAL 4.58 +/- 1.10, RE-CAL 4.41 +/- 0.96; each p </= .05), and the mean OHIP-14 summary scores (test group: BL-OHIP 21.7 +/- 11.06, RE-OHIP 9.9 +/- 8.96, p = .0046; control group: BL-OHIP 16.8 +/- 8.27, RE-OHIP 11.7 +/- 8.55; p = .0217). The reduction of the OHIP-G14 scores was considerably higher in the test group but statistically not significant (p = .080). CONCLUSIONS: The results show a positive impact of non-surgical periodontal treatment on OHRQoL and a possible tendency for further improvement by splinting mobile mandibular incisors.