Impact of Removable Partial Dentures on Masticatory Performance in Partial Edentulism: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of removable partial dentures (RPDs) on masticatory performance (MP) of partially edentulous subjects.

Materials and methods: Electronic database and hand searches were conducted to explore clinical trials reporting the evidence of the effect of metal- and acrylic-based RPDs on mastication. The validated objective and subjective measures of assessment of mastication were included. The article selection, data extraction, and assessment of risk of bias were conducted by two reviewers independently.

Results: Out of 11,200 studies, 1 randomized controlled trial and 23 clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. Positive impact on different parameters of masticatory function after RPD treatment was reported in 14 studies. Subjective evaluation of chewing ability (CA) displayed an improvement in 83.3% of studies, while improvement was evidenced only in 69.5% of studies upon objective evaluation. Most studies reported data on free-end saddles. Of the 13 studies associated with bilateral free-end saddle dentures, 9 studies showed a positive effect on masticatory efficiency. Various factors were found to have an impact on the MP of RPDs.

Conclusions: Subjective evaluation displays higher positive impact of RPDs in MP than objective evaluation. Assessment of patients' perspectives is important in clinical decision-making. Multiple factors affect the MP with RPD treatment.