Why Patients Visit Dentists - A Study in all World Health Organization Regions

Mike T John; Stella Sekulić; Katrin Bekes; Mohammad H Al-Harthy; Ambra Michelotti; Daniel R Reissmann; Julijana Nikolovska; Sahityaveera Sanivarapu; Folake B Lawal; Thomas List; Sanja Peršić Kiršić; Ljiljana Strajnić; Rodrigo Casassus; Kazuyoshi Baba; Martin Schimmel; Ama Amuasi; Ruwan D Jayasinghe; Sanela Strujić-Porović; Christopher C Peck; Han Xie; Karina Haugaard Bendixen; Miguel Angel Simancas Pallares; Eka Perez-Franco; Mohammad Mehdi Naghibi Sistani; Patricia Valerio; Natalia Letunova; Nazik M Nurelhuda; David W Bartlett; Ikeoluwa A Oluwafemi; Saloua Dghoughi; Joao N A R Ferreira; Pathamas Chantaracherd; Ksenija Rener-Sitar

doi:10.1016/j.jebdp.2020.101459

Why Patients Visit Dentists - A Study in all World Health Organization Regions

J Evid Based Dent Pract. 2020 Sep;20(3):101459. doi: 10.1016/j.jebdp.2020.101459. Epub 2020 Jun 1.

Authors

Mike T John¹, Stella Sekulić², Katrin Bekes³, Mohammad H Al-Harthy⁴, Ambra Michelotti⁵, Daniel R Reissmann⁶, Julijana Nikolovska⁷, Sahityaveera Sanivarapu⁸, Folake B Lawal⁹, Thomas List¹⁰, Sanja Peršić Kiršić¹¹, Ljiljana Strajnić¹², Rodrigo Casassus¹³, Kazuyoshi Baba¹⁴, Martin Schimmel¹⁵, Ama Amuasi¹⁶, Ruwan D Jayasinghe¹⁷, Sanela Strujić-Porović¹⁸, Christopher C Peck¹⁹, Han Xie²⁰, Karina Haugaard Bendixen²¹, Miguel Angel Simancas Pallares²², Eka Perez-Franco²³, Mohammad Mehdi Naghibi Sistani²⁴, Patricia Valerio²⁵, Natalia Letunova²⁶, Nazik M Nurelhuda²⁷, David W Bartlett²⁸, Ikeoluwa A Oluwafemi²⁹, Saloua Dghoughi³⁰, Joao N A R Ferreira³¹, Pathamas Chantaracherd³², Ksenija Rener-Sitar³³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Faculty of Medicine, Department of Prosthodontics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
³ Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁴ Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Oral Basic & Clinical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Section of Orthodontics, Department of Neurosciences, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
⁶ Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, University Medical Center Hamburg - Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁷ Faculty of Dental Medicine, Department for Prosthodontics, University Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Skopje, Macedonia.
⁸ Department of Periodontics, Care Dental College, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India.
⁹ Department of Periodontology and Community Dentistry, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
¹⁰ Faculty of Odontology, Department of Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
¹¹ Department of Prosthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
¹² Faculty of Medicine, Clinic for Dentistry of Vojvodina, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
¹³ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Orofacial Pain, University of Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile.
¹⁴ Department of Prosthodontics, Showa University Dental Hospital, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁵ Division of Gerodontology, Department of Reconstructive Dentistry and Gerodontology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Division of Gerodontology and Removable Prosthodontics, University Clinics of Dental Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹⁶ Department of Child Health and Orthodontics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
¹⁷ Faculty of Dental Sciences, Department of Oral Medicine and Periodontology, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
¹⁸ Faculty of Dentistry with Clinics, Department of Prosthodontics, University of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
¹⁹ Dental School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
²⁰ Department of Stomatology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
²¹ Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
²² Division of Pediatrics and Public Health, Division of Oral & Craniofacial Health Sciences, Adams School of Dentistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
²³ Center for Headaches, Facial Pain and TMD, Punta Pacifica Medical Center, Panama City, Panama.
²⁴ Oral Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, IR, Iran.
²⁵ Instituto Patricia Valério, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
²⁶ Department of Anesthesia in Dentistry, Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, Moscow, Russia.
²⁷ Faculty of Dentistry, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
²⁸ King's College London Dental Institute, Guy's Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
²⁹ Department of Oral Medicine and Periodontology, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
³⁰ Faculty of Dentistry of Rabat, Oral Surgery Department, Mohammed V University in Rabat, Rabat, Morocco.
³¹ Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand; Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore, National University Hospitals, Singapore, Singapore.
³² Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, Western University, Bangkok, Thailand.
³³ Faculty of Medicine, Department of Prosthodontics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Department of Prosthodontics, University Dental Clinics, University Medical Center Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Abstract

Objective: The dimensions of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) Oral Function, Orofacial Pain, Orofacial Appearance, and Psychosocial Impact are the major areas where patients are impacted by oral diseases and dental interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether dental patients' reasons to visit the dentist fit the 4 OHRQoL dimensions.

Methods: Dentists (N = 1580) from 32 countries participated in a web-based survey. For their patients with current oral health problems, dentists were asked whether these problems were related to teeth, mouth, and jaws' function, pain, appearance, or psychosocial impact or whether they do not fit the aforementioned 4 categories. Dentists were also asked about their patients who intended to prevent future oral health problems. For both patient groups, the proportions of oral health problems falling into the 4 OHRQoL dimensions were calculated.

Results: For every 100 dental patients with current oral health problems, 96 had problems related to teeth, mouth, and jaws' function, pain, appearance, or psychosocial impact. For every 100 dental patients who wanted to prevent future oral health problems, 92 wanted to prevent problems related to these 4 OHRQoL dimensions. Both numbers increased to at least 98 of 100 patients when experts analyzed dentists' explanations of why some oral health problems would not fit the four dimension. For the remaining 2 of 100 patients, none of the dentist-provided explanations suggested evidence against the OHRQoL dimensions as the concepts that capture dental patients' suffering.

Conclusion: Oral Function, Orofacial Pain, Orofacial Appearance, and Psychosocial Impact capture dental patients' oral health problems worldwide. These 4 OHRQoL dimensions offer a psychometrically sound and practical framework for patient care and research, identifying what is important to dental patients.

Keywords: Dentistry; Oral health; Problem-oriented medical records; Quality of life; Surveys and questionnaires; WHO.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Dentists
Humans
Oral Health*
Quality of Life*
Surveys and Questionnaires
World Health Organization

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding