[Improvement of patient's quality of life by changing the treatment plan from cone-crown retained denture to implant prosthesis].

PATIENT The patient was a 51-year-old male with a chief complaint of masticatory disturbance and anesthetic problem for the upper partially edentulous region. The cone-crown retained denture was selected as a first treatment plan. However, sufficient satisfaction was not achieved because of oral discomfort, such as bulkiness of the denture and gustatory sensation. Therefore, the treatment plan had to be changed to improve these problems. A second plan using hybrid prostheses was selected, i.e. implant prosthesis for the premolar and molar edentulous region and removable bridge for the incisor and canine region. DISCUSSION This case suggests the difficulty of selecting a treatment plan matching the patient's demands. CONCLUSION Remarkable improvement for the oral discomfort was observed and the patient's QOL was improved by careful planning of the prosthetic treatment. No problem has been observed for three years after the second prosthetic intervention.