Oral Health Related Quality of Life in Adult Population Attending Outpatient Department of KD Dental College and Hospital, Mathura
ABSTRACT The concept of oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) attempts to characterize patients's perception of oral health. Currently there is a growing interest in oral health outcomes in how oral health affects quality of life. OBJECTIVE To assess oral health related quality of life in adult population attending the Outpatient Department of K.D Dental College and Hospital, Mathura. MATERIALS AND METHOD A cross sectio nal study was carried out for a period of one month in OPD of K.D Dental College and Hospital, Mathura. Three twenty individuals were selected randomly. An investigation was done by using a combination of questionnaire and clinical examination of dental caries was done by using WHO 1997 criteria. RESULTS Majority of the participants (70.9%) reported oral health problems affecting at least one daily performance in six months preceding the survey. The performance most affected was on ‘eating’ (52.8%) followed by ‘cleaning teeth’ (29.7%). Chronbach's alpha for the OIDP frequency items was 0.70. CONCLUSION The highest impact was ‘eating’ and lowest on ‘speaking and pronouncing’ in the study population, which in turn, had an impact on their Quality of Life.