To evaluate the relationship between the complaints of complete denture
wearers and alveolar bone resorption as well as the location of mental
foramina, 96 patients were interviewed. All subjects had received new
dentures at the University of Iowa between August 1985 and July 1990.
Panoramic radiographs had been made for all the subjects before dentures
were fabricated. The amount of estimated ridge resorption correlated
significantly with the number of years females had been edentulous, but
no correlation was found in males. The location of the mental foramen in
relationship to the crest of residual ridge correlated negatively with
the number of years both genders were edentulous. Subjective need for
dental treatment, as expressed by "sore gums" or poor or fair chewing
ability, were the most frequent complaints among the subjects. These
complaints were more often recorded with the subjects who had lost more
than 50% of their estimated original ridge height than with those with
less than 50% resorption, but this difference was not significant