Perceived Oral Health in a Diverse Sample

Abstract

Measures of perceived oral health represent subjective, individual perspective of one's health. One measure commonly used is the single-item perceived oral health rating: How would you rate your overall oral health? These analyses examine the associations among age, ethnicity, and perceived oral health within the context of a comprehensive battery of 21 predisposing, enabling, and need variables. The study of compares the adult data from three United States research locations of the International Collaborative Study of Oral Health Outcomes (ICS-II). Only social survey data were used for this analysis. The multiple regression model explains over 30% of the variance in perceived oral health, with R squares ranging from 0.324 for Indian Health Service sites to 0.391 for San Antonio. The most important significant predictors include ethnic group, education, perceived general health status, being edentulous or not having a partial denture, having no oral pain, fewer oral symptoms, and having one or more dental visits. The predictors of positive perceived oral health for the diverse groups highlight interesting age and ethnic differences. The only universal predictor for the middle-aged adults was having fewer oral symptoms. For the older adults, being edentulous or not having a partial denture was the only universal predictor. The findings suggest that perceived oral health may be a useful outcome measure in dentistry because of its relation to predisposing sociodemographics and dental utilization.

Agreement between mothers and children with malocclusion in rating children's oral health-related quality of life

“…This questionnaires also include two global questions, firstly rating the health of their/their child's teeth, lips, jaws and mouth and secondly how much their/their child's teeth, lips, jaws or mouth affected their life overall. These global questions have been previously evaluated 17 and were worded: "Would you say that the health of your teeth, lips, jaws and mouth is …?" with a 5-point response format ranging from 'Excellent' to 'Poor' and "How much does the condition of your teeth, lips, jaws or mouth affect your life overall?"…”

Autopercepção de saúde bucal em comunidades quilombolas no Rio Grande do Sul: um estudo transversal exploratório

“…The absence of information on the state of the teeth present can also bring a justification, as an individual who has faced several dental problems can understand not having teeth as an effective improvement in oral health. Since individuals with some tooth loss (1-19 teeth) may have ongoing problems and be experiencing some level of pain or discomfort at the time of interview 12 . Alternatively, this discrepancy can occur because of the different references used in health self-assessment, which eventually causes weak associations between clinical status and the subject's health perception 25 .…”

“…beliefs, sociodemographic profile 11 , and oral disease history 12 . This perception is affected differently by different situations and oral diseases, such as number of teeth, use/type of prosthesis, and difficulties in chewing, considering that these relations are manifested differently between edentulous individuals and those with remaining teeth 13 .…”

Perceived need for and utilization of dental care in Indonesia in 2006 and 2007: a secondary analysis

“…The use of only self-reported information on dental health status may have resulted in some misclassification of individuals who misrepresented their dental health status. However, the findings suggest that the perceived need for dental care may be a useful outcome measure in dentistry because of its relationship with dental utilization (17). Relative to health promotion, it has been suggested that increasing awareness and understanding regarding patient responses to perceived dental problems can assist dental health care professionals in meeting the needs of patients who remain problemoriented dental care seekers.…”