Oral health and related quality of life status in patients from UK and Turkey: a comparative study in Behcet's disease.
BACKGROUND
The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare oral health-related quality of life (oral QoL) in patients from UK and Turkey with Behcet's disease (BD).


METHODS
Thirty-one BD patients from UK (F/M: 18/13, mean age: 41.8 +/- 11.5 years) and Turkey (F/M: 18/13, mean age: 41.5 +/- 10.3) who were matched according to age and gender were included in the study. All patients had active oral ulcers. Oral QoL was assessed by Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14). Oral health was evaluated by dental and periodontal indices.


RESULTS
No significant difference was found in OHIP-14 scores between patients from UK (22.7 +/- 14.4) and Turkey (20.4 +/- 14.3) (P = 0.709). The OHIP-14 score correlated with the healing time of oral ulcers in UK (r = 0.4, P = 0.04) and the number of oral ulcers in Turkey (r = 0.4, P = 0.012). The number of oral ulcers per month was significantly higher in UK (3.3 +/- 2.8) compared with that in Turkey (1.5 +/- 2.5) (P = 0.014). However, the number of filled teeth and frequency of tooth brushing were significantly lower in patients from Turkey compared with those in UK (P = 0.000). Similarly, the duration since the last dental visit (5.1 +/- 7.2 months) was significantly lower in UK compared with that in Turkey (28.6 +/- 23.7 months) (P = 0.000).


CONCLUSIONS
Oral QoL was similar in patients from UK and Turkey with active oral ulcers. However, the number of oral ulcers was observed to be higher in UK. As expected, a lower utilization rate of dental services might have led to a poorer oral health in patients from Turkey.
Mumcu
G
G
Faculty of Health Science, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. goncamumcu@marmara.edu.tr
Niazi
S
S
Stewart
J
J
Hagi-Pavli
E
E
Gokani
B
B
Seoudi
N
N
Ergun
T
T
Yavuz
S
S
Stanford
M
M
Fortune
F
F
Direskeneli
H
H
D000328:Adult; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000208:ethnology