Comparing the Influence of Surgical and Conservative Therapy on Quality of Life in Patients with Early-Stage Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw—A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of surgical and conservative, non-surgical treatment on general health-related (QoL) and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in patients suffering from AAOMS stage I MRONJ. Materials and Methods: In the course of this prospective clinical study, QoL and OHRQoL using QLQ-C30 and QHIP G14 questionnaire were longitudinally assessed in N = 174 prospectively enrolled patients with indication of treatment of MRONJ stage I over a period of 12 months. Patients received conservative or surgical treatment. The measurement time points were preoperatively (T0), 12 weeks (T1), 6 months (T2) and 1 year after operation (T3). Results: For OHRQoL, no significant (p > 0.05) differences were found between both treatment groups for all timepoints (T0–T3). In the surgical treatment group, OHIP scores of T1, T2 and T3 were significantly lower than baseline measures (T0) (T0–T1 (2.99, p = 0.024), T0–T2 (5.20, p < 0.001), T0–T3 (7.44, p < 0.001)). For conservative treatment group OHIP, scores of T2 and T3 were significantly lower than baseline measures (T0) (T0–T2 (9.09, p = 0.013), T0–T3 (12.79, p < 0.001)). There was no statistically significant effect of time on QLQ-C30 scores in both groups (surgical treatment: F(3, 174) = 1.542, p < 0.205, partial η2 = 0.026; conservative treatment: F(3, 30) = 0.528, p = 0.667, partial η2 = 0.050). QLQ-C30 scores turned out to be significantly lower in the non-surgical group at T1 (p = 0.036) and T3 (p = 0.047) compared to the surgical treatment group. Conclusions: Surgical and conservative treatment of MRONJ stage I significantly improves patients’ OHRQoL. Surgical treatment is superior to conservative treatment of MRONJ stage I regarding general QoL. Therefore, surgical treatment of MRONJ stage I should not be omitted for QoL reasons.