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Reissmann DR, Schierz O et al. J Dent 2011; 39: 326–331

The U.S. Surgeon General stated in 2000, 'oral health means much more than healthy teeth – oral health is integral to general health'. But is this just a mere platitude? The aim of this study was to determine if there was a perceived improvement in general health one month after prosthodontic treatment, in a selected group of 500 German patients. The investigators report that there was no improvement in well-being when patients received fixed prosthodontics and complete dentures (2.3% and 4.1% respectively), but there was after the provision of removable partial dentures (11.3%, p <0.01). The investigators concede that this case series cannot lead to strong causal inference, as there could have been a response shift and regression towards the mean.