Assessment of Impact of Prosthodontic Intervention on the Oral Health Related Quality of Life among Post COVID-19 Mucormycosis Affected Individuals in Central India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The currently prevalent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has amounted to various co-morbid conditions amongst patients and mucormycosis has been one among them. A globally emerging disease, this requires aggressive surgical treatment that necessitates due prosthetic rehabilitation. Aim: To assess the impact of prosthodontic intervention on the Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) through Oral Health Impact Profile 14 (OHIP-14) questionnaire in post COVID-19 mucormycosis affected individuals. Materials and Methods: The following study was a questionnaire-based prospective interventional study. The study population included post COVID-19 mucormycosis affected individuals who sought prosthodontic therapy for rehabilitation from the month of April 2021 to October 2021. The study instituted the questionnaire amongst 48 consenting participants. The OHIP-14 questionnaire was validated in their native languages and data was collected before and one month after prosthodontic intervention. Data was statistically analysed by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: For all the individual questions, OHRQoL impact showed a significant decrease following prosthetic intervention (p-value <0.05). Total OHIP score also showed a significant decrease post-treatment (p-value=0.001). Conclusion: Percentage improvement of OHRQoL ranging from 34.79% to 59.86% post prosthodontic intervention was observed. Thus, the impact of prosthodontic therapy among post COVID-19 mucormycosis affected individuals on the OHRQoL of the patient is positively significant.