title: Quality of life in patients with dentofacial deformity: a comparison of measurement approaches.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of dentofacial deformity on quality of life (QOL) as assessed by generic health, generic oral health and condition-specific approaches. A case-control study was performed involving 154 subjects: 76 with dentofacial deformity (non-cleft) and 76 without dentofacial deformity. Generic health-related QOL was assessed employing the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), generic oral health-related QOL was assessed by the 14-item short form Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) and condition-specific QOL was assessed by the 22-item Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ). No significant difference in SF-36 scores between case and control groups was observed (P>0.05). There were significant differences in overall OHIP-14 scores (P<0.001) and overall OQLQ scores (P<0.001) between case and control groups. The results suggest that dentofacial deformity affects individuals in many aspects of their lives, and that generic oral health and condition-specific approaches to assessing QOL are able to discriminate patients with dentofacial deformities from those without, and thus have value in determining the impact of dentofacial deformities on QOL.
authors.affiliation: Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Hong Kong, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, 34 Hospital Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Samman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D004955:Esthetics, Dental / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019767:Maxillofacial Abnormalities / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*