# Evaluation of Retention and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life for Completely Edentulous Subjects Wearing Heat-Cured, 3D-Printed, and Injection-Molded Polyamide Complete Dentures: Randomized Crossover Clinical Trial

## TL;DR

This study compared how well different types of dentures stay in place and affect quality of life for people without teeth, finding that polyamide dentures performed best.

## Contribution

The study provides a direct comparison of retention and quality of life outcomes for three denture manufacturing methods in a randomized crossover trial.

## Key findings

- Polyamide dentures showed significantly higher retention forces than heat-cured and 3D-printed dentures.
- Polyamide dentures improved oral health-related quality of life more than the other two types, except for social disability.
- Heat-cured and 3D-printed dentures showed no significant differences in retention or quality of life.

## Abstract

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the retentive forces and oral health-related quality of life of completely edentulous subjects wearing heat-cured, 3D-printed, and polyamide complete denture (CD) bases at different intervals. Subjects and Methods: For this crossover study, 45 CDs were constructed for 15 completely edentulous male subjects, and subjects were randomly allocated to 3 equal groups (n = 5/group, 3 CDs/subject). Each subject was randomized to receive one manufactured CD—either heat-cured, polyamide, or 3D-printed. After 3 months, subjects crossed over to the other set, with 4 weeks’ rest between each CD. The retentive force (primary outcome) was measured for each maxillary CD base at baseline, after the first and third months; however, the oral health-related quality of life (second outcome) was evaluated for each CD after the first and third months using the oral health impact profile in the completely edentulous patient (OHIP-EDENT) questionnaire. Results: There were significant differences in retention forces between the polyamide CD and the other two CDs (p < 0.05); however, no significant difference was observed between the heat-cured and 3D-printed CDs at different intervals (p > 0.05). After 3 months of follow-up, significant differences in oral health-related quality of life were observed between polyamide and both 3D-printed and heat-cured CDs (p < 0.05). Additionally, the comparison between heat-cured and 3D-printed CDs revealed no significant variation in the overall OHIP-EDENT scores (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The retention of polyamide bases was higher than that of heat-cured and 3D-printed CDs. Additionally, oral health-related quality of life with polyamide dentures was superior to that of 3D-printed and heat-cured CDs across all OHIP-EDENT measures, except for social disability. Both 3D-printed and heat-cured CD bases provide retention and patient satisfaction within acceptable clinical measures.