Aetiological factors of craniomandibular disorders in completely edentulous denture-wearing patients.

A total of 201 completely edentulous patients awaiting treatment for new complete dentures at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne were examined for signs and symptoms of craniomandibular disorders, and a history was taken regarding their dentures. Statistical analysis by means of Student's t-test showed that the only reliable indicator of craniomandibular disorder was the patient's sex, i.e. female subjects tend to show more symptoms of craniomandibular disorders than male subjects. When regression and multiple regression analyses were applied, it was found that subjects with a history of fewer sets of complete dentures worn appeared to be correlated with an increase in the number of signs and symptoms of craniomandibular disorders. However, this correlation had a weak predictive power, although it was significant enough to indicate that such a relationship could exist in the general population.