RESEARCH ARTICLE
OHRQoL in a Sample of Alcohol and Drug Abusers
A.J. van Wijk1, *, G. Molendijk2, #, G.H.W. Verrips1, 3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2016Volume: 10
First Page: 338
Last Page: 346
Publisher ID: TODENTJ-10-338
DOI: 10.2174/1874210601610010338
Article History:
Received Date: 3/04/2015Revision Received Date: 04/04/2016
Acceptance Date: 14/04/2016
Electronic publication date: 15/07/2016
Collection year: 2016
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode), which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Aims:
To determine oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) in a large sample of substance abusers and to evaluate the effect of dental treatment on OHRQoL.
Design:
A longitudinal observational study.
Settings:
A dental care clinic specialized in treating severely addicted patients.
Participants:
A sample of severely addicted substance abusers.
Measurements:
OHRQoL was measured using the OHIP-14, which was filled out at baseline (T0), prior to the first treatment session (T1), after about 6 treatment sessions (T2) and on the last day of treatment (T3).
Findings:
Mean OHIP scores did not change from T0 to T1. At T1, a mean OHIP-14 total score = 37.1 (sd=12.4, N = 392) was found. The highest mean scores were observed for the subscales physical pain and psychological discomfort. Data from 129 patients was available on both T1 and T2. The mean OHIP-14 total score reduced significantly (mean difference = 5.63, 95% CI 3.76 – 7.51), t(128)=5.94, p <0.001. The highest reduction in mean score was found for the subscale physical pain (mean difference = 1.24, 95%CI 0.81 – 1.66). Also between T2 and T3 a significant reduction in OHIP-14 total score (mean difference = 2.41, 95%CI 0.06-4.76) took place.
Conclusion:
The oral health status of substance abusers does have a substantial effect on their quality of life, which can be improved to a great extent by dental treatment based on a model tailored to addicted patients.
