A GDP research network examines patients' perceived oral health

Abstract

Objective To measure the subjective impact of oral health in a group of patients attending general dental practices in the North West of England and to investigate the attributes of dentists and practices in order to examine how such attributes might relate to patients' subjective perceptions of oral health. Design Fifteen general dental practices conducting a simultaneous survey of attending patients and 15 practitioners from these practices providing information about their attitudes to treatment, prevention and various aspects of their surgery. Setting General dental practice. Outcome measures Patient subjective impact scores. Relationships between practice and practitioner variables and patients' subjectively perceived oral health. Results Fifteen practitioners with diverse practice attributes provided data on 718 patients. The mean total oral health impact score was 18.4. Twenty two per cent of patients had experienced pain in the four weeks before the survey and 11% had been unable to chew some foods. Fifty five per cent of the surveyed population had, in the previous year, worried about the appearance of their mouth and 65% had worried about their oral health in general. Dentists' beliefs were related to patient impact scores but practice attributes were not significantly associated with patients' impacts. Conclusions Fourteen percent of the differences in patients' subjectively perceived oral health can be attributed to dentist attitudes and attributes. Further research regarding the influence of dentists' personality and professional beliefs on patients well-being needs to be undertaken.