Comparative Assessment of Chewing Efficiency and Analysis of Electromyography Data with Various Methods of Prosthetics of Free-End Edentulous Space

INTRODUCTION: Despite the extensive development of dentistry, removable prosthetics methods still do not lose their relevance. Upon that, non-physiological transmission of chewing pressure by such dentures is a known fact. To optimize removable prosthetics methods, in particular, in terms of improving chewing effectiveness, the authors’ team proposed a non-fixed overdenture of an original design. AIM: To provide a comparative assessment of chewing efficiency and conduct an analysis of electromyography data when using partial removable dentures of various designs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors conducted a prospective study involving 90 patients divided into 3 equal groups of 30 patients. Each group was subdivided into 2 equal subgroups of 15 patients by age from 18 to 60 years and from 60 to 80 years. Patients of A group underwent orthopedic rehabilitation with original dentures, of group B with classic removable laminar dentures, of group C with removable laminar dentures made of thermoplastic. As part of the study, immediately before orthopedic rehabilitation, after application of and complete adaptation to the denture, at 3 and 6 months after prosthetics, the patients underwent surface myography of masticatory and temporal muscles. Besides, as part of the same examinations, the patients were asked to perform a modified chewing test of I. S. Rubinov. RESULTS: The authors revealed a sharp increase in the parameters of surface electromyography in all the groups immediately after application of a removable denture and completion of the adaptation period. Subsequently, over time, a decrease in the surface electromyography parameters was noted in all the groups. However, in patients of group A, the electromyography parameters were decreasing much more slowly than in patients of other groups (p < 0.0001). Thus, at 6 months, the electromyography parameters of the masticatory muscle in patients of group A aged 18–60 years were 264 µV higher than in group B, and 111 µV higher than in group C. Similar parameters of group A patients aged 60–80 years were 214 and 160 µV higher than in groups B and C, respectively. At 6 months, the results of the temporal muscle electromyography in group A patients aged 18–60 years, were 177 µV higher than in group B, and 136 µV higher than in group C. Among patients aged 60–80 years, the results in group A were 189 and 92 µV higher than in groups B and C, respectively. When analyzing the results of the chewing test at 6 months after prosthetics, the best results in terms of time and percentage of chewed food were observed in patients from group A. CONCLUSION: The data obtained indicate a higher chewing effectiveness of the removable denture proposed by the authors as compared to the studied analogues.