Twenty years later: Oral health‐related quality of life and standard of treatment in patients with chronic periodontitis

Abstract

Background To assess oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) after long‐term (20 years) periodontal treatment in patients with chronic periodontitis (ChP) and to compare it with the current clinical outcome and oral health status. Methods Twenty years after therapy, 63 patients were reexamined. The dental and periodontal status and OHRQoL using the Oral Health Impact Profile‐G49 (OHIP‐G49) were assessed. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and tests for differences were calculated. Results Up to 75% of patients showed no probing depths > 5mm, bleeding on probing (BOP) ≤25%, no pain and satisfactory function. A comparatively low perceived oral impact of ChP was represented by an OHIP‐G49 overall score of 18.89 ± 21.66. The most common reported impairment was physical pain followed by “functional limitation.” A correlation between oral quality standard and the OHIP‐G49 was limited to the physical pain subdomain. Conclusions Satisfaction with oral status was perceived high by most patients treated for chronic periodontitis. A comparably high OHRQoL can be achieved and retained long‐term after periodontal treatment. The objective and subjective evaluation of oral health only correlated in the subscale “physical pain.”

Oral health‐related quality of life impacts are low 27 years after periodontal therapy

“…Moreover, our cohort is older (71 years) than the general German population (44 years; BIB, 2019), which may impact on OHIP-G14, as discussed below. Impairment in our population largely occurred in the subdomains "psychological disability" and "physical pain," affirming the outcomes of previous studies which found that periodontitis can cause pain (El Sayed et al, 2018) and impacts on patients' psychological perception (Bäumer et al, 2018;Sonnenschein et al, 2018).…”

“…Compliance and smoking status have been found to be positively associated with patients’ oral health perception according to El Sayed et al. (2018). Similarly, age was found to be associated with OHRQoL, with older individuals showing a better OHRQoL (indicating some kind of coping mechanism found in the elderly).…”

“…Fourth, other covariates like smoking status or adherence may be more relevant for treatment outcomes than the initial diagnosis and may hence be associated with OHRQoL instead of stage, for example. Compliance and smoking status have been found to be positively associated with patients' oral health perception according toEl Sayed et al (2018).Similarly, age was found to be associated with OHRQoL, with older individuals showing a better OHRQoL (indicating some kind of coping mechanism found in the elderly). This is noteworthy, as given the long follow-up of our study, the vast majority of our participants was rather old at T2.…”

Determining the minimal important difference of the Oral Health Impact Profile for Chronic Periodontitis

“…It also has a negative impact on OHRQoL, nutrition, speech, social interactions and psychological well-being and is associated with several systemic diseases (Linden & Herzberg, 2013;Reynolds & Duane, 2018). Currently, generic OHRQoL measures like the Oral Health impact Profile (OHIP) is used worldwide for assessing OHRQoL in patients with chronic periodontitis (El Sayed et al, 2019;He, Wei, Wang, & Ji, 2018). However, generic measures of health status may not be sensitivity enough to capture clinical changes than disease-specific tools (Locker & Allen, 2007).…”

Periodontal treatment, psychological factors and oral health‐related quality of life

“…Females may have worse OHRQoL (Brauchle et al, 2013; Fotedar et al, 2014), or men may report lower impacts (Wellapuli & Ekanayake, 2016). However, other studies report no gender difference in participants with periodontitis (El Sayed et al, 2019; Miao et al, 2016; Saito et al, 2010).…”