Health Indicators to Measure the Impact of Tooth Loss on Quality of Life

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate three health indicators to measure the impact of tooth loss on quality of life related to oral health (OHRQL).
Methods: Cross-sectional household probability sample of 248, 20–64 year-old residents in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. The household oral examinations followed the WHO criteria for caries (DMFT) and periodontal disease (CPI). OHRQL data were collected through OHIP14 that was analyzed as severity (OHIP score) and prevalence (one or more impacts on OHRQL). An ordinal scale for tooth loss, based on tooth position and number of missing teeth, was created to measure the impact of tooth loss on OHRQL and the others indicators were mortality index (M/DMF) and number of missing teeth. Roc curve was performed for OHIP prevalence and Linear Regression for OHIP severity
Results: The mean number of missing teeth was 10.3 (SE 2.9), mortality index mean was 43.6% (SE 2.9) and the distribution, according to the tooth loss classification, was 19.5% for those never experiencing tooth loss due to oral disease, 4.4% having lost 1–4 first molars, 18.8% having lost up to 12 posterior teeth, 26.8% having lost up to 12 teeth, including one/more anterior teeth, 24.9% having lost 13–31 teeth, and 6.6% being edentulous. When performed linear regression analyzes was found significant association between the three indicators and OHRQL, and the R² was 0.07 for missing teeth, 0.07 for tooth mortality index and 0.11 for tooth loss classification. Area of Roc curve was 0.60, 0.59 and 0.63 respectively.
Conclusions: Our results showed that tooth loss classification based on position and number of missing teeth presented good results to measure the impact of tooth loss on OHRQL, when compared with number of missing teeth and tooth mortality index.