OHRQoL and Normative Denture Needs of Elderly Thais

Objectives: to assess and compare oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), perceived need and normative need for denture in a group of elderly Thais. Methods: a cross-sectional study in 110 elderly people in Patumthani province. The sample were oral examined to assess their normative denture needs, interviewed for perceived denture needs and OHRQoL using the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) index. Normative denture need was statistically compared to OHRQoL regarding edentulous areas (Mann-Whitney U test), and to perceived denture needs (Chi-square test). Diagnostic values of OHRQoL and perceived needs against normative needs for denture were calculated. Results: 88.2% of sample had normative need while 47.3% had perceived need for denture. 53.6% had oral impacts on quality of life, mostly (40.9%) on eating performance. Normative need was statistically significantly related to OHRQoL (p=0.02), and to perceived needs (p=0.014). However, 41.3% and 48.5% of elderly people with normative denture needs did not have oral impacts regarding edentulous areas and perceived denture needs respectively. Sensitivity and specificity values of OHRQoL regarding edentulous areas against normative need were 0.59 and 0.85 respectively, while those of perceived need against normative need for dentures were 0.52 and 0.85 respectively. Conclusions: the statistical relationships between normative and subjective assessments, in terms of OHRQoL and perceived need, were significant. However, the diagnostic tests showed that OHRQoL and perceived need regarding denture poorly predicted the presence of normative denture needs of elderly individuals.