Introduction

Complete edentulism has great impact on a patient’s life style and quality¹, several reports have been published evaluating patient satisfaction with complete dentures and to identify the reasons some patients are difficult to satisfy.^{2, 3, 4} Studies show there is little difference in the complaints received from patients wearing old dentures and recently inserted dentures.^{5, 6, 7, 8}

Patients' dissatisfaction with complete dentures has been attributed to many factors.  Patients who are not pleased with their dentures return for follow up visits more frequently than patients who are happy with the appearance of their dentures.⁹  Yet, according to van Wass, there is no relationship between height of the residual alveolar ridge and patients’ satisfaction with their dentures.¹⁰  Psychological factors may play a more significant role in patient satisfaction with complete dentures.^{3, 7, 11, 12}

Occlusal errors are responsible for more discomfort among denture wearers than any other factor and, therefore, affect their acceptance of complete dentures.¹³  Many occlusal patterns have been described for complete dentures, but there is little evidence correlating any of these occlusal schemes to success or failure.^{14, 15}  It is generally accepted the occlusion of the finished denture must be free of occlusal interferences in order to improve the acceptance by patients.^{14, 15, 16}  Unfortunately this fact is often ignored, and the preferred method employed to alleviate discomfort and ulceration caused by occlusal errors is to adjust the impression surface of the denture; it is quick, easy, and any pain or discomfort can be alleviated temporarily.  However, patients will likely return for more post operative visits unless all causes of the underlying discomfort are removed by verifying the occlusion and performing occlusal adjustment.¹³

Methods for improving patients’ acceptance by pre-treatment counseling have been used to give patients more realistic expectations for the performance of their new denture than they may otherwise have.^{17, 18}  Attempts to relate satisfaction to clinical remount procedures have also proved to be very successful.^{13, 19}  Firtel et al. found improved denture comfort was reflected in fewer post operative visits when a clinical remount of newly constructed dentures and adjustment of occlusion were performed.¹⁹

Unfortunately, few dentists perform clinical remount at the time of delivery¹⁹, although this procedure has been recommended in most of the complete denture textbooks as it improves the patient’s comfort, reduces the number of review visits, and improves the acceptance of complete dentures.  The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of clinical remount procedure on the satisfaction of complete denture patients.

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Citation Number: Vol. 6, No. 1, Page 049