Psychosocial impact of periodontal disease and its treatment with 24-h root surface debridement.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of periodontal disease and treatment with 24-h root surface debridement on the oral health-related quality of life of patients (OHQoL).


METHODS
Two cohorts were recruited: 20 patients with moderate to advanced periodontal disease and 16 dentally healthy patients. Patients with periodontal disease were treated with 24-h root surface debridement. OHQoL was assessed, using Oral Health Impact Profile-14, during the initial assessment and by a telephonic interview daily for 7 days for both groups. OHQoL was also assessed at review for the treated cohort. The number of impacts each patient experienced "occasionally" or more often was analysed by non-parametric tests.


RESULTS
Patients with periodontal disease reported significantly more impacts on their quality of life than dentally healthy patients (p<0.05). After root surface debridement the impact was significantly reduced (p<0.05) and sustained at review (p<0.05); however, the impact on quality of life was still greater than that experienced by the dentally healthy cohort (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with periodontal disease have worse OHQoL than healthy patients, but this impact can be partly ameliorated by periodontal treatment. This implies that periodontal disease is not "silent" and that conventional non-surgical treatment provided in a secondary referral centre can be effective from patients' perspectives.
Department of Adult Dental Care, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. a.k.jowett@sheffield.ac.uk
Adrian K
AK
Jowett
Marian T S
MT
Orr
Andrew
A
Rawlinson
Peter G
PG
Robinson
D000328:Adult; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002710:Chlorhexidine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003777:Dental Prophylaxis; D012534:Dental Scaling; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D010514:Periodontal Pocket / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010518:Periodontitis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D013357:Subgingival Curettage / Q000295:instrumentation; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation
D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D002710:Chlorhexidine