Quality of Life and Poor Oral Health: A Comparison of Postmenopausal Women.

Kristin Williams,Leena Palomo,Christine Debaz,Hebba Shamia

doi:10.3390/dj4040044

Kristin Williams, Leena Palomo + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/dj4040044

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Abstract

Inter-relationships between traditional dental variables are becoming more evident in far reaching aspects of life, such as psychosocial interaction, self-esteem, overall health and even occupational performance. This study compares quality of life (QoL) in postmenopausal women (PMW) with poor oral health (POH) with QoL in PMW with good oral health. A total of 200 randomly recruited PMW received a dental evaluation and completed the Utian Quality of Life Survey. The participants were divided into POH and healthy groups based on a dental exam. Mean scores were calculated for each QoL item, domain and the overall summary score. For each of the four parameters for periodontitis diagnosis, periodontitis b s patients’ QoL outcomes were compared to those of healthy patients using a T-test with a threshold of significance at p < 0.05. QoL in all fields measured was significantly poorer in the POH patients compared to the healthy patients: occupational score (19.95 ± 5.35 vs. 27.56 ± 6.13), health score (18.02 ± 8.23 vs. 26.59 ± 6.45), emotional score (15.68 ± 10.22 vs. 21.15 ± 9.15), sexual score (6.2 ± 5.98 vs. 10.02 ± 5.35), and total score (60.21 ± 25.85 vs. 84.26 ± 22.35). This study finds that PMW with POH report significantly poorer quality of life. Clinicians caring for PMW should be aware that oral health impacts QoL and make appropriate referral decisions for patients’ dental care.

Highlights

The effect of oral health on quality of life (QoL) is emerging as a valuable area of investigation.The World Health Organization considers oral-health to have a far-reaching impact on QoL [1].As dentists, we identify that a healthy smile has much to do with psychosocial interaction, self-esteem, and relationships
Participants were given the designation of poor oral health if they met at least one of the following criteria: (1) whole mouth mean clinical attachment loss (CAL) ≥3 mm which denotes the loss of structures, periodontal ligament, cementum and alveolar bone, this is a direct measure of periodontal disease; (2) single highest probing depth in the mouth ≥5 mm; the most severe pocketing without the washout effect of a mean; (3) >5 surfaces of untreated decay; (4) any site of decay to the extent of radiographically apparent pulpal involvement
Ten poor oral health group patients had more than one qualifying criterion

Summary

Introduction

The effect of oral health on quality of life (QoL) is emerging as a valuable area of investigation.The World Health Organization considers oral-health to have a far-reaching impact on QoL [1].As dentists, we identify that a healthy smile has much to do with psychosocial interaction, self-esteem, and relationships. The effect of oral health on quality of life (QoL) is emerging as a valuable area of investigation. The World Health Organization considers oral-health to have a far-reaching impact on QoL [1]. We identify that a healthy smile has much to do with psychosocial interaction, self-esteem, and relationships. Comfortable functioning, free of pathology, has always been the goal of the clinical profession, but this thought process is converging with evidence-based research [2]. Inter-relationships between and among traditional variables, such as caries and periodontitis and pulpitis diagnosis, with the more current direction of patient-centered subjective. QoL, has not yet been elucidated for different populations.

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