Evaluation of Oral Health Related Quality of Life in a Group of Dental Students enrolled in Cairo University: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The oral health affects every person’s emotional and social experience and physical functioning; therefore, even on the level of the undergraduate students those with better dental appearance and proper dental function have higher self-esteem and social acceptance than those with dental and/ or oral problems.
 Aim: This study aims to evaluate the Oral Health Related Quality of Life among a group of undergraduate dental students using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire.
 Methods: The short form of the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 questionnaire (OHIP-14) was used to evaluate Oral Health Quality of Life on dental students. Oral and dental diseases’ experienced were also evaluated across the perceived quality of life to find out whether a correlation existed. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM® SPSS® Statistics Version 26 for Windows. Categorical data were presented as frequencies and percentages and were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test.
 Results: Among the 346 participants 237 (68.5%) were females, and 109 (31.5%) were males. Their mean age was (20.83±1.83), and most of them were Egyptians 255 (73.7%). The mean of total OHIP-14 score for the studied sample was 12.95±9.80. The highest scores were found with physical pain (3.25±2.04), psychological discomfort (3.03±2.36) and psychological disability (2.04±2.00).
 Conclusion: The mean OHIP-14 total score is considered relatively higher than other populations. The most prevalent impact was reported in both the physical pain and psychological discomfort domains.
 Keywords Oral Health Related Quality of Life. Dental students. Oral Health Impact Profile-14.