Assessment of orofacial dysfunctions, salivary cortisol levels and oral health related quality of life (ORHQoL) in young adults

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship of orofacial dysfunction and salivary cortisol levels with oral health quality of life (ORHQoL) in young adults. DesignThirty individuals of both genders (22.93±2.42 years) participated. The orofacial dysfunction was evaluated using the Nordic Orofacial Test-Screening (NOT-S) and the ORHQoL using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49). Saliva samples were collected during three days, at waking up and 30min after, obtaining the awakening cortisol response – ACR. The data were analysed by Mann–Whitney test, Spearman's correlation and multiple linear regression (α=0.05). The NOT-S scores and ACR (μg/dl) were dichotomized by the median (2.0 and 0.15, respectively). ResultsNOT-S and ACR showed similar values between genders (P>0.05). The individuals with NOT-S scores above the median presented values of “physical pain” domain significantly higher than the individuals with scores bellow or equal to the median. Significant correlations were found between the OHIP-49 domains “physical pain” and “physical disability” and NOT-S scores. In multiple linear regression, significant values were observed between NOT-S and OHIP-49 and the domains physical pain, physical disability, psychological disability, social disability and handicap, with determination coefficients ranging from 0.09 to 0.15. There was not association with the ACR. ConclusionsIndividuals with orofacial dysfunction presented impairment in ORHQoL, but not enough to change salivary cortisol levels. Furthermore, gender did not have influence on ORHQoL in the studied sample.