Is toothwear associated with oral health related quality of life in adults in the UK?

Objectives: Toothwear can have many impacts on an individuals quality of life. Yet there is little research investigating the association between toothwear and oral health relative quality of life (OHRQoL). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between toothwear and OHRQoL in adults in the United Kingdom.
Methods: The study involved secondary analysis of data from 5187 participants with toothwear in the Adult Dental Health Survey conducted in 2009. Toothwear was assessed using Smith and Knight criteria and the Basic Erosive Wear Index and classified as mild, moderate and severe. Correlation analyses were carried out between the measure of OHRQoL (OHIP-14) and toothwear type. This was followed by regression analyses to investigate the association between toothwear and OHRQoL adjusted for socio-demographics including, age, gender, and index of deprivation.
Results: The findings indicated a significant association between toothwear and oral health relate quality of life with more severe toothwear associated with greater oral health impacts in daily life. The association between erosive toothwear and OHRQoL was significant for moderate and severe severities only. The adjusted linear regression model identified that toothwear accounted for 0.02% of variance in total OHIP-14 scores respectively. Females, younger individuals and less deprived individuals showed a greater association between toothwear and OHRQoL.
Conclusions: In this general population sample, there was a small significant association between toothwear and oral health-related quality of life impacts. However, the association was only significant for more severe categories of toothwear.