Using an oral health-related quality of life measure in three cultural settings

To assess the application of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) index for use in three different language and cultural settings;

To develop a Spanish and Afrikaans version of the OIDP for use in the USA and South Africa and to assess its reliability and validity in three counties: UK, USA and South Africa.

Co-ordinated pilot studies using the OIDP questionnaire and clinical examination using WHO criteria in the three countries using cross-sectional convenience samples of children.

Two populations in each country: relatively well-off and more socially disadvantaged in three age groups 40 years+, 15-16 and 11-12 year-olds.

525 volunteers participated in the study; 154 in Texas, 177 in Bristol and 194 in Cape Town, the majority being females. The prevalence of oral impacts on daily performances varied between the three sites, with the sample in Bristol showing lower prevalence of 28.8% reporting at least one oral impact in the past six months. Difficulty eating was a common impact in all three sites, reported by 22.7% of the Texas sample, 18.6% of the Bristol sample and 33.0% of the Cape Town sample. Criterion and construct validity: the OIDP performed consistently well in all three sites. The combined dental caries status of the two lower age groups (12- and 16-year-olds) varied by site: Texas had the highest overall mean DMFT of 4.31, then Bristol with 3.07 and Cape Town the lowest at 2.89.

The OIDP index had excellent psychometric properties in the Cape Town and Texas samples and had an overall good performance in the Bristol sample. Potentially the index can be used for oral health needs assessment and planning services. Further studies using larger samples might provide information relevant to the revision of existing oral health care systems.