Quality of Life and Poor Oral Health: A Comparison of Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Inter-relationships between traditional dental variables are becoming more evident in far reaching aspects of life, such as psychosocial interaction, self-esteem, overall health and even occupational performance. This study compares quality of life (QoL) in postmenopausal women (PMW) with poor oral health (POH) with QoL in PMW with good oral health. A total of 200 randomly recruited PMW received a dental evaluation and completed the Utian Quality of Life Survey. The participants were divided into POH and healthy groups based on a dental exam. Mean scores were calculated for each QoL item, domain and the overall summary score. For each of the four parameters for periodontitis diagnosis, periodontitis b s patients’ QoL outcomes were compared to those of healthy patients using a T-test with a threshold of significance at p < 0.05. QoL in all fields measured was significantly poorer in the POH patients compared to the healthy patients: occupational score (19.95 ± 5.35 vs. 27.56 ± 6.13), health score (18.02 ± 8.23 vs. 26.59 ± 6.45), emotional score (15.68 ± 10.22 vs. 21.15 ± 9.15), sexual score (6.2 ± 5.98 vs. 10.02 ± 5.35), and total score (60.21 ± 25.85 vs. 84.26 ± 22.35). This study finds that PMW with POH report significantly poorer quality of life. Clinicians caring for PMW should be aware that oral health impacts QoL and make appropriate referral decisions for patients’ dental care.

Is sexual dysfunction associated with periodontal status in perimenopausal women?: A pilot study

“…They demonstrated that, compared to the scores obtained in the healthy control group, the sexual test scores were lower in each study group with abnormal scores of PPD, CAL, and PI, all of which were the parameters used in diagnosing periodontitis (DeBaz et al, 2015). In another survey study published in 2016, it was reported that postmenopausal women with poor oral health had significantly low sexual test scores (Williams et al, 2016).…”

“…However, those studies provided limited information about the severity and clinical subtypes of sexual dysfunction (DeBaz et al, 2015;Williams et al, 2016). They investigated the quality of sexual life in women with periodontitis by using only the three respective items of the general quality of life scale (Utian et al, 2018).…”

Quality Of Life of Menopausal Women Suffering from Periodontitis Relating to Dental Conditions

“…5 The research of Williams et al showed that postmenopausal people with poor oral health had significantly poorer quality of life. 6 The results of Debaz et al showed that patients with periodontitis had a poor quality of life than healthy subjects, with significant physical, social and psychological impacts. 7 In conclusion, a relationship between menopausal women with periodontitis affects patients' quality of life.…”

Calidad De Vida Relacionada Con La Salud Oral en Mujeres Participantes Del Programa Odontológico “Más Sonrisas Para Chile”

“…3,5 Oral health problems cannot only be seen as dental problems, but they should be viewed as a whole; [6][7][8] they affect mortality, overall health, digestion, speech, social mobility, employment, selfesteem, quality of life, and well-being. 3,9 Chile's public oral health policy "is geared towards the prevention and promotion of oral health of the population, especially on the most vulnerable, and it considers recovery activities in prioritized groups through cost-effective actions based on the most available evidence". The demand for care is very high because of the extent of damage to the population and scarce dentist hours, so the State is in need of prioritizing specific age groups, in order to have a long-term health impact.…”