ABSTRACT
Hypodontia is the developmental disorder, one or more teeth are congenitally missing in these patients. This affects their aesthetics, phonetics, function and has a psychosocial impact in their life. A questionnaire [OHRQoL] Oral Health Related Quality of Life measures the potential consequences of the condition to day to day lives of the patient
Aim of the study: To compare the OHRQoL in patients with hypodontia and patients with acquired missing teeth
Material and Method: Group A, 40 patients with hypodontia and Group B, 40 patients with acquired tooth loss were evaluated with OHRQoL questionnaire. This consists of 14 questions. Response were made on 5 point Likert scale. [0 = never, 1= hardly ever, 2= occasional, 3= fairly often, 4= very often] SPSS software version 11 was used to analyze the data. Two groups compared for OHRQoL scores by using t test. P values < 0.05 was considered to be significant
Results: The mean age of hypodontia patient group A was 22 years, and Group B with acquired loss of teeth was 25 years. The response of 1-3 missing teeth in both groups were not different for function and aesthetics. When 4-6 teeth were missing significant difference was found. In the analysis statistically significant psychological discomfort was found in hypodontia patients
Conclusion: Loss of missing teeth has impact on function and aesthetics equally if the teeth are congenitally missing or lost by trauma or disease. But there is more psychological discomfort in the hypodontia patients