Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among a sample of 259 older Iban population aged 50 to 87 years living in longhouses of Kapit District, Sarawak. Oral health status measured dental caries and periodontal diseases. The assessment of oral health-related quality of life was performed by face to face interview using the modified GOHAI questionnaire.
Results: There was about 1.4 female to every male subject. Majority of them had never attended school (76.1%). Results showed that the disease prevalence for caries (86.5%) and periodontal diseases (98.4%) were high. The mean GOHAI score was 28.72 (S.D + 4.21) and the score ranged between 15 to 36. Analysis of GOHAI scores revealed that the most common item reported by the subjects was ‘feel nervous/self conscious because or problems with teeth/gums'(68.3 %) and the most uncommon item reported was ‘able to swallow comfortably' (18.1%). When mean GOHAI scores for self-rated health and self-rated oral health status were compared by demographic characteristics,only the latter was found to be statistically significant at p=0.000. Results also indicated that the relationship between selected oral health status parameters and oral health-related quality of life scores were weak.
Conclusion: The older Iban subjects in this study were found to have high caries and periodontal disease prevalence and a moderate oral health-related quality of life.
This project was supported by the Institute of Postgraduate Study Grant (No: F0105/2005C) and the Centre for Malaysian Pribumi Studies, University of Malaya.