The prevalence and impact of teeth wear on oral health related quality of life among rural adult population of Sullia taluk, D.K

Abstract

Introduction: Teeth wear (TW) an otherwise physiological process if present above acceptable level might cause a debilitating effect on the quality of life (QoL). With increasing life expectancy and people retaining their natural teeth into old age, the problem of wearing off of teeth over time poses a major public health concern. Aim: The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of TW and its effects on individual QoL and satisfaction with their dentition. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among 650 individuals selected from Sullia Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India, to assess the prevalence of TW as determined by teeth wear index (Smith and Knight, 1984) and impact of the same on oral health-related QoL on 240 individuals with TW (39.15 ± 3.05 years) measured using a translated version of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-14 questionnaire. Results: Analysis revealed that 39.97% of the study individuals had a TW severity of score 2 and TW severity of score 3 were observed among 20% of the study participants. The overall mean OHIP-14 score of the study population was 16.91 ± 8.07 with 36.7% moderately and 0.8% severely affected impact on OHRQoL. Physical pain, psychological discomfort, physical disability, and psychological disability with respective mean values of 1.47 ± 1.3, 1.18 ± 1.07, 1.85 ± 1.5, and 1.53 ± 1.3 were the main affected domains in oral health QoL. Conclusion: The severity of TW in the study population was score 2 having moderate impact on the QoL with physical disability, physical pain, psychological discomfort, and disability as the contributing factors.