Impact of Dental Treatment on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients.

OBJECTIVE: It is crucial to understand how individuals perceive the impact of oral disorders and the treatment associated with or received for those disorders on their quality of life. A relatively new but quickly spreading concept of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) that notably affects three fields, clinical dental practice, dental research, and dental education makes it feasible to figure out the relationship between oral health and its impact on the quality of life of an individual. OHRQoL can be measured in various ways; the most well-liked method uses a multiple-item questionnaire. There haven't been any prior attempts to compare the effects of various invasive and non-invasive dental therapies on OHRQoL, even though few studies have been conducted to evaluate the OHRQoL among patients undergoing independent dental procedures. Such a comparison would aid in our understanding of not only how various dental conditions affect OHRQoL, but also whether or not a patient's OHRQoL has improved as a result of various therapies for these diseases. METHOD: A longitudinal study was conducted on patients receiving invasive and non-invasive dental treatment at Teerthanker Mahaveer Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad. A two-part questionnaire, the first part of which consists of questions related to the demographic details of the patient and the second part consisting of a set of 14 questions of the oral health impact profile (OHIP)-14 for assessing the OHRQoL, was used in the study. Patients' baseline OHRQoL was assessed before the commencement of any treatment by the interview method and follow-up OHRQoL was assessed three days, seven days, one month, and six months post-treatment telephonically. The OHIP-14 contains 14 items on the frequency of adverse impacts caused by oral conditions and the patients were asked to rate each item on a 5-point Likert scale as 0=never; 1=hardly ever; 2=occasionally; 3=fairly often; 4=very often. RESULTS: The results obtained after compiling and analyzing the data from a total sample of 400 indicate that the mean difference in the OHIP score at different time intervals between the groups who undertook invasive and non-invasive treatment was significant as the p-value was less than 0.05. In addition, it was observed that the mean difference at baseline was statistically significant in the invasive and non-invasive groups as the p-value is less than 0.05. At the domain level, the mean score at each domain was higher in the invasive group as compared to the non-invasive treatment group after three days and seven days of treatment. The mean difference between the group treated with invasive treatment on day three and the group treated with non-invasive treatment on day seven was statistically significant as the p-value is less than 0.05. The mean score was high in the invasive group as compared to the non-invasive group after one month and six months of treatment. CONCLUSION: The present study was conducted to assess dental treatment's impact on oral health-related quality of life in patients attending Teerthanker Mahaveer Dental College and Research Centre, Moradabad. Results from this study indicated that both types of treatments either invasive or non-invasive have significantly influenced the OHRQoL. Post-treatment OHRQoL improved at different intervals after receiving either treatment.

Effect of traditionally used neem and babool chewing stick (datun) on streptococcus mutans: an in-vitro study.

PURPOSE: There are various plants, which are used as chewing sticks in different parts of the world. Several studies have been reported on the antimicrobial effects of chewing sticks on oral bacteria. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of traditionally used neem and babool chewing sticks (datun) extracts on Streptococcus mutans. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present invitro study was conducted to assess effectiveness of 5%, 10%, and 50% neem and babool extract on Streptococcus mutans. The ditch plate method was used to test the antimicrobial activity. Ditches were prepared on blood agar plates with the help of punch having 6mm diameter. The plates were left for 1h at room temperature and then incubated at 37°C for 48h and examined for zone of inhibition. RESULTS: There was no zone of inhibition observed with 5% babool and neem aqueous extract. There was significant difference in mean diameter of zone of inhibition of 10% neem and babool extract (p-value 0.001 < 0.05). Similarly the mean difference in 50% neem and babool extract was found to be significant (p-value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Both neem and babool extracts had antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans, while antimicrobial activity was significantly higher in neem aqueous extract than babool aqueous extract.

Prevalence of Oral Mucosal and Extraoral Lesions among Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate Patients Attending to a Private Hospital, India.

Aim of the Study : To assess the prevalence of oral mucosal and extraoral lesions among the cleft lip and/or palate subjects aged between 3 and 18 years, and to compare with those of noncleft controls. Methodology : A cross sectional survey was conducted during the period of March 2004 to September 2004. A select sample of 150 cases consisted of cleft lip and/or palate subjects aged between 3 and 18 years reporting to Outpatient Department, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, private Hospital and Medical Research Center, Belgaum. A sample of 450 matched noncleft subjects (Controls) was selected based on convenience from general population. Oral health assessment form as prescribed in Basic Oral Health Surveys, WHO, was used to record the data. Results : Approximately 43% of cleft subjects had abnormalities of upper lip. 7% of clefts and 5% of noncleft controls presented enlarged lymph nodes on palpation in the head and neck region. Both the cleft subjects and noncleft controls had ulcerations in the buccal mucosa. However, there was no significant difference between them. Among few cleft subjects abscess formation was observed in the sulcus region (1.33%) as well as gingiva (2.66%) adjacent to cleft. Similarly among controls also few abscess in sulcus and gingival region were observed. Conclusions : On intra-and extraoral examination of cleft and noncleft subjects for any lesions revealed that clefts as well as noncleft subjects exhibited few intraoral lesions, however clinically or statistically significant differences were not observed.