How do Those over 70 Years of Age, Perceive the Immediate Functionalization Intervention for their Defective Dental Prostheses?

Pablo Jimenez; Pilar Barahona; Andrés Celis; Braulio Santibáñez; Anna Forés & Erik Dreyer

Summary

Aging is characterized by gradual structural and functional decline. Oral functions are directly affected by tooth loss. Removable prostheses (RP) allow these functions and quality of life to be restored. Users of deficient RPs without long-term follow-up present alterations in their oral functionality due to a loss of prosthetic mechanical properties and loss of dentition. The immediate functionalization of deficient RPs seeks to restore oral functionality in the elderly through the repair and relining of their pre-existing deficient PRs, in one clinical session without the use of a dental laboratory and then, post-intervention followup. The objective of the study was to assess the changes in perception regarding the daily life of elderly adults aged 70 years and over, patients of the dental service of the Hospital del Salvador (Santiago Metropolitan Region) after the immediate prosthetic functionalization intervention. The study was exploratory and qualitative based on grounded theory. Participants who received the immediate prosthetic functionalization intervention were scheduled 15 days later and underwent a semi-structured interview with open questions by two researchers which was audio recorded. The records were transcribed into text, anonymized, and analyzed by 3 researchers independently who did not participate in the interviews. Each researcher determined categories and subcategories. The three researchers then jointly analyzed the convergences and divergences of their analyses to generate the final categories and subcategories. As a result, 11 interviews were obtained, from which two groups of categories emerged, pre-intervention and post-intervention. The immediate prosthetic functionalization intervention suggests positive changes in the reports of the participants' perceptions regarding the recovery of oral functions, the comfort of the post-intervention prostheses, and biopsychosocial impact on their daily lives.

KEY WORDS: oral functional, removable prosthesis, elderly.

How to cite this article

JIMENEZ, P.; BARAHONA, P.; CELIS, A.; SANTIBÁÑEZ, B.; FORÉS, A. & DREYER, E. How do those over 70 years of age perceive the immediate functionalization intervention for their defective dental prostheses?. Int. J. Odontostomat., 18(3):328-334, 2024.