Hearing of Edentulous Patients With a Single Implant-Retained Removable Complete Overdenture: A Case Series.

INTRODUCTION

Many studies reported on the existence of a relationship between tooth loss and hearing loss. However, only few studied the new relationship between dental implants and hearing loss.

AIMS: To report the effect of a single implant-retained removable complete overdenture in the mandibular jaw on hearing loss of completely edentulous first-time denture wearers with sensorineural hearing loss.

METHODS

This study is a case series that reports on the hearing thresholds of four completely edentulous patients at the ages between 55 and 62 years, which were tested before the insertion of a removable complete denture (RCD) and after loading the implant, through pure tone audiometry (PTA) for air and bone conduction in the Audiology Department at Almouwasat Hospital, from 2022 to 2024.

RESULTS

Improvements of 5-10 dB in bone conduction thresholds were observed in some of the frequencies. A transition from minimal hearing loss to normal hearing was noted in the right ear of the second patient.

CONCLUSION

This experiment supports the new insight into the enhancement in hearing after loading the implant-retained removable complete overdentures, which suggests that placing dental implants improves hearing ability.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Cases in this case series are part of a clinical trial approved by ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration and Results System (PRS) with the approval number NCT05744830.