A Two-Dimensional Scale for Oral Discomfort.

Area of Science:

• Oral health research
• Quality of life assessment
• Psychometric validation

Background:

• Subjective suffering from oral conditions is measured by oral health-related quality of life.
• The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) is a common multidimensional assessment tool.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a secondary analysis of the Dutch OHIP-14 in diverse international samples.
• To examine the dimensional structure and reliability of the OHIP-14 scales.
• To determine the most adequate scale structure for assessing oral health impacts.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of the Dutch OHIP-14 across three diverse samples (Netherlands, Caribbean, Nepal).
• Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFAs) and Simultaneous Components Analysis (SCA) were employed.
• Various models with differing factor structures were tested.

Main Results:

• A two-factor solution (psychological discomfort and physical discomfort) was most satisfactory across all samples.
• A one-factor solution (oral discomfort) was also deemed acceptable.
• The proposed two subscales (6 and 5 items) and the one-factor scale (11 items) demonstrated statistical and theoretical adequacy.

Conclusions:

• The OHIP-14 is most adequately applied using two scales: psychological discomfort and physical discomfort.
• A single, one-dimensional scale of oral discomfort is also a feasible and practical option.
• This approach simplifies assessment compared to using numerous small dimensions.