Relationship between perceived chewing ability, oral health related quality of life and depressive symptoms among completely edentulous individuals

Background: Edentulism affects the chewing ability of a person and can engender nutritional deficiencies which can affect the overall quality of life and depression. Aim: Our aim was to evaluate the association between perceived chewing ability, oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and depressive symptoms among completely edentulous patients with and without dentures. Settings and Design: Institutional study and cross-sectional design. Methods: A cross-sectional study among 207 completely edentulous persons was conducted in South India. The subjects completed a self-administered questionnaire on demographics, Beck's depression inventory, oral health impact profile-edentulous (OHIP-EDENT), age when edentate, chewing ability, and denture satisfaction. Further, denture status was clinically evaluated. Statistical Analysis: Data were summarised and analysed using the Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Persons not using complete dentures (odds ratio [OR] =3.5, P < 0.05), who reported impaired chewing ability (OR = 4.6, P < 0.05), those who became edentate before 55 years (OR = 4.6, P < 0.05) and with poor denture status (OR = 6.2, P < 0.05) were more likely to report depressive symptoms. Lesser impact in relation to OHRQoL was found to be protective against depression among completely edentulous (OR = 0.24, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were associated with impaired chewing ability, higher impacts on OHIP-EDENT, and edentulous persons not using complete dentures. High priority must be given to enhance awareness towards oral rehabilitation among completely edentulous to reduce the chance of depression occurring due to impaired chewing ability and poor OHRQoL.