Health outcomes of oral disorders

While there is a substantial body of data on patterns of dental disease in both adult and child populations, there is relatively little information concerning the consequences of oral disorders for well-being and the quality of life. In addition, dentistry lacks measures of health outcomes for use in dental health surveys and clinical trials. However, interest in this area is growing and a number of oral-condition specific health status measures have been developed over the last 10 years. The most sophisticated is the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) which is being developed and tested by research teams in Australia, Canada and the US. This consists of 49 items organized into seven sub-scales which address the way in which oral conditions compromise functioning and social and psychological well-being. A study of older adults in Canada which used OHIP found that it had good measurement properties. Nevertheless, there was only a weak association between scores on this measure and clinical indicators of oral disease. Further analysis revealed that social factors were as important as clinical factors in explaining the health outcome of oral disorders. This finding is consistent with contemporary concepts of health and provides some evidence to support the view that the social context in which we live is important in shaping responses to disease and the experience of health and illness.