Periodontal Disease And Its Impact On Quality Of Life

Objectives: Attachment loss due to periodontal diseases is associated with functional limitations as well as physical pain and psychological discomfort, which may lead to a reduced quality of life. The obejctive is to answer the question, if periodontal status has an effect on oral health related quality of life.
Methods: Survey data were collected in an U.S. dental school clinical setting from n=97 adults (54% females, average age 51 years) in a cross-sectional. Quality of life related to oral health was assessed with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-49). Additional measures using the DMFT index, periodontal status, dental anxiety, as well as health literacy scores (dental and medical health literacy) were recorded and statistically analyzed. Descriptive statistics, including ANOVA and the t-test for comparison of scores within the cohort and Spearman’s correlation coefficient as well as a logistic regression model were used for further data analysis.
Results: 44% of the subjects were identified as periodontitis cases (PC). These periodontitis cases demonstrated significantly lower OHIP49 scores (66.93 ± 30.72) than subjects without signs of periodontal diseases (NP) (32.40 ± 19.27, p<0.05). There was also a significant difference between NP patients and patients with Gingivitis (66.24 ± 46.12, p<0.05). In an attempt to incorporate the new periodontal staging classification and distinguish between stages of disease, it was found that there was a statistically significant difference between Stage 3 Periodontitis and Health (p = 0.003). Pearson correlations were completed and positive relationships with OHIP and DMFT (0.206, p<0.05), Modified Dental Anxiety (MDAS) (0.310, p<0.05), and Periodontal Risk Self-Assessment (PRSA) (0.237, p<0.05).
Conclusions: Periodontal diseases may negatively impact the oral health-related quality of life. Patients suffering from periodontitis also showed more missing teeth, which might have an effect on function. In addition to missing teeth, poorer overall quality of is correlated with the patient’s perceived assessment of self-risk as well as dental anxiety.