Diseases and disorders that damage the mouth and face can disturb well-being and his self-esteem. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) is a relatively new but rapidly growing notion. The concept of OHRQOL can become a tool to understand and shape not only the state of clinical practice, dental research and dental education but also that of community at large. There are different approaches to measure OHRQOL; the most popular one is multiple item questionnaires. OHRQOL should be the basis for any oral health programme development. Moreover, research at the conceptual level is needed in countries where OHRQOL has not been previously assessed, including India.

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To reinforce awareness among dentists about their role in person identification and the importance of maintaining dental records of all their patients. The article reviews basic procedures of dental identification and some cases where dental identification played a key role in eventual identification of the person. Forensic odontology is an integral part of forensic sciences. Forensic dental identifications, especially in times of mass disasters, depend mainly on the availability of ante mortem dental records. It is the social responsibility of each and every dentist to maintain dental records of their patients for the noble cause of identification in the event of mass disaster.

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Objective: To assess the dental health awareness, attitude, oral health-related habits, and behaviors in relation to socioeconomic factors among the municipal employees of Mysore city. Study Design and Methodology: This study was cross-sectional in nature and involved completion of a predesigned structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included multiple option questions to collect information on awareness on dental diseases, visit to dentist, reasons for visit, reasons for not visiting dentist on routine basis, oral hygiene practices, and deleterious oral habits. Modi ied Kuppuswamy scale with readjustment of per capita income was used to classify individuals into different socioeconomic status (SES) categories. Data were entered onto a personal computer and analysis was done using SPSS version 14. Results: Awareness on dental diseases was 100% in upper SES and nil (0%) in the lower SES. Visit to dentist in the last 1 year was 100% in the upper SES and 32.3% in the lower SES. The prevalence of smoking, pan-chewing, and alcohol consumption was high in lower SES than in upper SES. Oral hygiene practices were better among the subjects in upper class than the lower ones. Conclusion: A direct relation was noted between the favorable dental health awareness, attitude, oral hygiene behavior, and SES.