Effect of attachment height on chewing efficiency for mandibular over denture wearer

Purpose: The intent of this research was to study the effect of attachment height on chewing efficiency of the patients wearing mandibular overdenture
Materials and methods: Twelve male patients had completely edentulous maxillary and mandibular ridges, were elected to perform this study. All Patients received complete maxillary denture and mandibular over denture retained by two implants with locator abutments divided into two equal groups according to the length of the locator attachment.
GroupI: the patients were received locator abutment with 1mm in height.
Group II: the patients were received locator abutment with 3mm in height
Colored chewing gum used for estimation of chewing efficiency of the patients by the help of special software programs. The data was reordered and statistically analyzed at( two, four &six) weeks from over denture insertion .
Results: between groups the results of this study reveled that Group II representing higher means of Delta E values than group I throughout different follow-up periods. These values were statistically significant at four and six weeks from over denture insertion at p ≤ 0.05 .Within groups the results of this study presented that the means of Delta E values for group I& group II increase throughout different follow-up periods. These values were statistically non significant at all observation periods for group I and statistically significant for group II at p ≤ 0.05.
Conclusion: Within the restrictions of this study it could be concluded that, the attachment height affects chewing efficiency of the patient.