title: Quality of life and psychological well-being among endodontic patients: a case-control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Much is already known about the consequences of endodontic disease from clinicians' perspectives; a significant omission is an understanding from patients' perspectives. This study aimed to determine oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) and psychological distress among subjects referred for endodontic care compared to patients in periodontal maintenance.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a case-control study involving 200 patients; 100 patients requiring endodontic treatment and 100 control subjects (periodontal maintenance patients). OHQoL was assessed using the short form Oral Health Impact Profile measure (OHIP-14) and psychological well-being using the short form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Variations in OHIP-14 and GHQ-12 scores between the 'case' and 'control' group were determined, and the magnitude of such differences through effect size (ES) calculations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant differences in OHIP-14 summary scores between the case and control groups (p < 0.001) and significant differences across all seven domain scores (p < 0.05). The ES was moderate (0.63) with respect to summary OHIP-14 scores. There were also significant differences in GHQ-12 scores between the case and control groups (p < 0.05), but the ES was small (0.36).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OHQoL and psychological well-being is compromised among patients seeking endodontic treatment, and to a greater magnitude than patients in periodontal maintenance.
authors.affiliation: Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: G S P
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Cheung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003729:Dental Care; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires