Resumen de Application of an oral health-related quality of life questionnaire in primary care patients with orofacial pain and temporomandibular disorders

Antonio Blanco Aguilera, Antonio Blanco Hungría, Lourdes Biedma Velázquez, Rafael Serrano del Rosal, Laura González López, Elena Blanco Aguilera, Rafael Segura aaint-Gerons

• Objectives: To examine whether patients who report orofacial pain (OP) and temporomandibular disorders (TMD) have a poorer perception of their oral health-related quality of life and, if so, to what extent, and to analyze the association between oral health perception, sociodemographic variables and reported pain duration.

  Study Design: 407 patients treated at the OP and TMD units in the Healthcare District of Cordoba, Spain, diag - nosed following the standard criteria accepted by the scientific community - the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) - were administered the Spanish version of the Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire (OHIP-14). Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the de - gree of association between the patients` OHIP-14 score and pain duration, pain intensity, and various sociode - mographic variables.

  Results: The observed distribution was 89.4% women and 10.6% men. The mean OHIP-14 score was 20.57 ± 10.73 (mean ± standard deviation). A significant association (p<0.05) was found for gender, age, marital status, chronic pain grade, self-perceived oral health status and pain duration.

  Conclusions: The analysis of self-perceived oral health status in patients with OP and TMD, as measured by the OHIP-14, showed that oral health is perceived more negatively by women. Moreover, a one-point increase in the Chronic Pain Grade indicator increases the OHIP-14 indicator by 4.6 points, while chronic pain, defined as pain suf - fered by patients for one year or more, increases the OHIP-14 indicator by 3.2 points.