Baba Farid University Dental Journal

  • Year: 2014
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 2

The Impact of Poor Oral Health on Quality of Life Among the Older Indian Population

  • Author:
  • Jagjit S. Dhaliwal1,, Grewal Yasmin2, Feine Jocelyne3, Sodhi Sachinjeet Kaur4, Junior R.F. Albuquerque5
  • Total Page Count: 4
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 1 to 4

1Professor and HOD, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Mohali, Punjab

2Reader & HOD, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Mohali, Punjab

3Professor, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada

4Lecturer, Rayat Bahra Dental College and Hospital, Mohali, Punjab

5Lecturer, Faculty of Dentistry, Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

Abstract

Poor oral health can impair general quality of life of an individual. A strong association between these has been shown. The prevalence of impaired quality of life related to oral health/edentulousness in India is unknown.

To study the prevalence of impaired oral health quality of life (OHRQOL) by assessing patient satisfaction with dentures.

The impact of complete edentulousness on daily living was assessed using the short form, 20-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-20) among the denture wearing older Punjabi Indians. Higher scores implied poor OHRQOL, because the OHIPindex measures the frequency of problems.

173 subjects were interviewed with a mean age of 76.9 years. Only 9.8% reported good OHRQOL. Majority of the subjects reported problems with chewing (55.5%), ill-fitting dentures (41.6%) and avoiding eating (42.8%). Among the seven domains, functional limitation was reported by 85% of the subjects and 83.3% reported physical pain. 41.6% reported having physical and behavioral problems in six out of seven dimensions that significantly impact OHRQOL. There was a significant difference by gender with 84.8% males reporting poor OHRQOL as compared to 97.3% females (Pearson ChiSquare=7.40, p<0.006). However, no difference in OHRQOL was observed by age (Pearson Chi-Square= 2.02, p=0.363). A positive correlation was also observed between domains showing that the increase of difficulty in one domain area correlated with an increase in another and these correlations were significant (p<0.001).

The prevalence of poor OHRQOL was high among the older Indian population with women reporting higher dissatisfaction and impact on daily There is a need for interventions to improve the quality of dental prostheses and in-turn improve daily life and diet.

Keywords

oral health related quality of life, elders, edentulousness, Indian