Oral health-related quality of life in patients with tooth wear.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of tooth wear (TW) on patients' oral health-related quality of life. A total of 198 participants were included in the study. They belonged to the following four different diagnostic categories: 51 patients with TW, 46 patients with painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD), 43 complete denture wearers and 58 healthy controls. The Dutch version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-NL) was used to assess the patients' oral health-related quality of life. The results of the study show that patients with TW have an impaired oral health-related quality of life compared with healthy controls (P < 0·001). Furthermore, the impact of TW and of edentulousness do not differ significantly, while both of these oral conditions seem to have a lower impact on quality of life compared with painful TMD (P < 0·05). It was concluded that TW has a negative impact on patients' quality of life. This impact is comparable with that of edentulousness.

[Oral kinesiology and the quality of life]. / Orale kinesiologie en levenskwaliteit.

In a comparative study, the influence of oral health on the quality of life was investigated for people with temporomandibular pain, people with tooth wear and people with complete dentures. To this end, the study made use of the Oral Health Impact Profile. Both the total score and the scores on 4 of the 7 domains of the Oral Health Impact Profile were significantly higher in the research group with temporomandibular pain than in the research groups with tooth wear and complete dentures. These results suggest that among people with temporomandibular pain the influence of oral health on the quality of life is more negative than among people with tooth wear and among people with complete dentures. This result can probably be linked with the general finding that patients with temporomandibular pain bear a relatively high psycho-social burden.