Date of Completion

8-8-2014

Embargo Period

8-2-2014

Advisors

Dr.Thomas Taylor, Dr.John R. Agar, Dr.Arthur R. Hand

Field of Study

Dental Science

Degree

Master of Dental Science

Open Access

Campus Access

Abstract

Currently, there is no consensus on optimal lip support when restoring edentulous patients. The purpose of this study was to find the differences in patient’s self evaluation of facial esthetics and evaluation of other patients’ facial esthetics, when comparing digital images with and without a labial flange in a maxillary prosthesis.

22 maxillary edentulous patients esthetically satisfied with their maxillary complete denture were recruited. Each maxillary denture was duplicated in clear acrylic resin. Under standardized conditions, full-face frontal and profile digital images of the subjects wearing the duplicated dentures were taken. Then the labial flange was trimmed and another set of frontal and profile pictures were taken. These images were presented to the patients for evaluation of facial esthetics using the visual analog scale (VAS) methodology and for identification of the image without the labial flange using the Triangle test.

There was no statistically significant difference in rating of facial esthetics of frontal and profile images of patients with intact prosthesis and the rating of facial esthetics of images of patients with modified prosthesis. Additionally, patients were unable to identify the absence of the labial flange in pictures of themselves and images of other patients. Patient-related factors such as gender and prior years of wearing a denture had no association with the patients’ ratings of facial esthetics with intact and modified prosthesis based on the threshold set for clinical significance.

Major Advisor

Dr.Avinash Bidra

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