Oral Health Impact Profile: need and use of dental prostheses among Northeast Brazilian independent-living elderly

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the association between use and need of dental prostheses to the quality of life in elderly individuals in a Referral Center for Elderly Care in the northeastern of Brazil. A cross-sectional study was developed with 199 elderlies of both sexes. Data were collected from clinical examinations (WHO criteria) and a questionnaire regarding socioeconomic status, Oral Health Impact Profile index (OHIP-14) by a single calibrated examiner with Kappa = 0.91. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test, Poisson regression (p<0,05). The sample consisted of 84.9% women, mean age of 70.02 (sd±6.50) years. There was an independent association between quality of life and the covariates sex and need of dental prostheses. Men showed lower values of the score (PR = 0.734, p = 0.011) than women. Individuals without normative need for dental prostheses showed lower values of OHIP-14 (PR = 0.767; p = 0.003) than those in need.

Tooth Loss, Sociodemographic Conditions and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in the Elderly

“…The demographic profile of the population surveyed shows a predominance of women, with 83.8% of the 402 participants. This result is similar to the study carried out at the Reference Center for Elderly Care in João Pessoa, Brazil, in which the sample consisted of 84.9% of women [16]. A similar situation was found in other studies [13,17].…”

“…The SB Brasil 2010 project, the last national epidemiological survey, shows that 68% of adults who were interviewed claimed need for some type of prosthesis, and the partial prosthesis in a dental arch was the main claim [26]. Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals in need of prostheses have greater negative impacts on OHRQoL [3,14,16,27]. Thus, the relevance of these findings is understood, considering that deficiencies in the stomatognathic system can cause chewing, speech and aesthetics problems [28], leading to negative oral health self-perception.…”

“…Other studies with the elderly population showed a greater impact of tooth loss in the psychological discomfort dimension and was associated with a greater chance of compromised quality of life in its physical and mental domains [30]. Psychological disability was a point highlighted in research carried out with older adults in northeastern Brazil, as it emphasized that tooth loss is directly conditioned to the feeling of humiliation and embarrassment [16].…”

Uso da prótese dentária e suas repercussões no contexto de vida de pessoas idosas: revisão integrativa

“…Observou-se prevalência de produções nacionais, que totalizaram nove artigos (90%) [1,3,17,21,27,31,35,40,41], dentre os quais quatro [17,21,27,41] (44,4%) eram oriundos da região Nordeste; dois [31,40] Segundo os estudos incluídos nesta revisão, a parcela populacional de idosos usuários de prótese dentária consiste em sua maioria de mulheres, com faixa etária entre 65 e 80 anos, com nível de escolaridade baixo ou médio e de classe socioeconômica baixa [1,3,8,18,21,27,31,35,40,41]. Além disso, verificou-se que o uso da prótese pela população geriátrica apresenta repercussões positivas no contexto de vida desse grupo populacional.…”

Oral Health and Quality of Life in adults living in Northeastern Brazil

“…In a debate held in Rio de Janeiro [5], quality of life was defined as a sense of human satisfaction that is closely related to the degree of satisfaction found in family, love, social and environmental life and to existential aesthetics itselfwhich could be considered a cultural synthesis of all the elements that a certain society considers as its standard of comfort and well-being. Authors [6] have emphasized that self-reported symptoms and perceived oral health status and need for treatment are important measurable dimensions of oral health and quality of life. Therefore, good oral health is imperative to general health, well-being and quality of life and brings significant benefits to self-esteem, dignity, social integration, and nutrition in general.…”