Associations and discrepancies between global self-ratings of oral health and general health: a Bayesian approach.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the discrepancies between global ratings of oral health and general health and investigate the factors associated with self-rated oral health (SROH) and self-rated general health (SRGH). METHODS: Data were collected from 502 participants aged 18 to 81 years. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data regarding sociodemographic characteristics and self-reported conditions. Global self-ratings of oral health and general health were the main outcomes. Discrepancies between self-ratings of oral health and general health were stratified by independent variables. Bayesian ordinal logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the posterior distributions of parameters and 95% credible intervals (95% CrI). RESULTS: The proportion of participants who rated their oral health worse than general health was 28.6% (95% CrI: 24.7-32.3). Negative discrepancies between SROH and SRGH were associated with being men, reporting gingivitis, and lower income. Sex (95% CrI: 1.12-2.25) impacted only on SRGH. Income (SROH - 95% CrI: 1.52-6.40; SRGH - 95% CrI: 1.08-4.56), tertiary education (SROH - 95% CrI: 1.13-2.53; SRGH - 95% CrI: 1.01-2.32), self-reported missing teeth (SROH - 95% CrI: 1.57-3.46; SRGH - 95% CrI: 2.21-4.92), self-reported gingivitis (SROH - 95% CrI: 1.10-2.40; SRGH - 95% CrI: 1.71-3.82), and self-reported chronic health problem (SROH - 95% CrI: 1.38-3.08; SRGH - 95% CrI: 1.61-3.59) impacted on both outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial discrepancies between self-rated oral health and self-rated general health were found and were associated with being male, reporting gingivitis, and having lower income.

Quality of life related to oral mucositis of patients undergoing haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and receiving specialised oral care with low-level laser therapy: a prospective observational study.

Oral mucositis is a painful condition that occurs in 80% of patients who undergo haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Our objective was to determine the impact of mucositis on quality of life (QoL) of patients subjected to HSCT treated with low-level laser therapy (LLLT). Patients were evaluated: (1) on the first day of treatment; (2) 5 days after autologous or 8 days after allogeneic transplantation; (3) once bone marrow had integrated; and (4) 30 days after discharge. Clinical evaluation was performed using the World Health Organization criteria; oral health QoL was measured using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14); and mucositis symptoms with the Patient-Reported Oral Mucositis Symptom (PROMS) scale. The higher the score, the lower the patient's QoL. The OHIP-14 responses showed that at D + 5/D + 8, all domains had the highest scores, while at times 1 and 4, the scores were lower. In the PROMS scale, all domains scored worst at time 2, and the differences between the scores at the four times were statistically significant. The study has shown that QoL improves over time in patients undergoing LLLT therapy for mucositis prevention.

Accuracy and reliability of pulp/tooth area ratio in upper canines by peri-apical X-rays.

Due to the real need for careful staff training in age assessment, in order to improve capacity, consistency and competence, new research on the reliability and repeatability of methods frequently used in age assessment are required. The aim of this study was twofold: first, to test the accuracy of this method for age estimation; second, to obtain data on the reliability of this technique. A sample of 81 peri-apical radiographs of upper canines (44 men and 37 women), aged between 19 and 74years, was used; the teeth were taken from the osteological collection of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy). Three blinded observers used the technique in order to perform the age estimation. The mean real age of the 81 observations was 37.21 (CI95% 34.37 40.05), and estimated ages ranged from 36.65 to 38.99 (CI95%-Ex1 35.42; 41.28; CI95%-Ex2 33.89; 39.41; CI95%-Ex3 35.92; 42.06). The module differences found by the three observers were 3.43, 4.24 and 4.45, respectively for Ex1×Ex2, Ex1×Ex3 and Ex2×Ex3. The module differences observed among real and observed ages were 2.55 (CI95% 1.90; 3.20), 2.22 (CI95% 1.65; 2.78) and 4.39 (CI95% 3.80; 5.75), respectively for Ex1, Ex2 and Ex3. No differences were observed among measurements. This technique can be reproduced and repeated after proper training, since it was found high reliability and accuracy.