Effect of Prosthodontic Rehabilitation on Perioral Units inEdentulous Patients

Background: Complete edentulous patients experience loss infundamental mastication functions, the progressive absorption ofthe alveolar bone, and variation in facial appearance. Completedentures (CD) fundamentally target edentulous patients and notonly increase functionality but also restore the appearance of theface. This study aims to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation withremovable CD on perioral wrinkles in complete edentulouspatients, in line with growing aesthetic demand. Methods: Patients who had CD rehabilitation performed due to total edentulism were photographed before and afterrehabilitation from the same angles to evaluate the perioral softtissue changes. The photographs were scored using verifiedranking scales and through evaluation by two observers. Toevaluate the repeatability of the scales, measurements wererepeated with the same method one month later. Results: When the effect of prosthetic rehabilitation administeredsuccessfully on perioral aesthetics and lip volume was analyzed,a significant improvement was observed in all other parametersevaluated, except for in the labiomental crease. The improvementin the labiomental crease was not statistically significant. Inaddition, re-measurement reliability was high (?0.80) for all fourperioral units (nasolabial folds, corners of mouth, labiomentalcrease and upper radial lip). In addition, all correlations werestatistically significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: Rehabilitation with CD contributed positively to thedevelopment of the perioral wrinkles and lip volume, which arealso observed as a result of edentulism.