Oral Health-related Quality of Life in Completely Edentulous Patients

Abstract

Context: Oral conditions and their impacts on quality of life (QoL) are now important as a tool to evaluate patients’ perception of treatment offered to them. There are various indexes used as a tool to assess the QoL of the individual. The general oral health assessment index (GOHAI) is a proven and reliable index to assess the oral health and its impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Aim: To evaluate the effect of complete denture rehabilitation on OHRQoL in completely edentulous patients. Settings and design: The study compares the improvement of OHRQoL of 50 completely edentulous patients enrolled in the study, after rehabilitation of them with conventional complete dentures. Materials and methods: Hindi version of the GOHAI was used as evaluation tool for OHRQoL. Statistical analysis: Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied to assess changes in GOHAI score before and after rehabilitation with a complete denture. Results: The GOHAI score was seen to be increased from 22.30±1.67 to 27.48±1.13 (p-value <0.000), which was highly significant.Conclusion: The GOHAI is an example of a patient-based assessment of oral health problems commonly affecting older adults. The GOHAI assessment indicates improvement in chewing. The highest change between pre- and postinsertion scores was 92.75% for biting or chewing any kind of food.