Perception of the Periodontitis Patients on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHQoL): Does Socio-demographic factors influence on it? A pilot study among the Patients from Polyclinic, Kulliyyah of Dentistry, International Islamic University, Malaysia

Objectives: To investigate the socio-demographic influences on OHQoL perceived by periodontitis patients. Materials and method: A cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study was conducted among 80 chronic periodontitis patients. The Malaysian version of OHQoL-UK index was applied to explore the patients’ perception on OHQoL in terms of four (symptoms, physical, psychological and social) aspects. The perception level was classified into no, mild, moderate and severe effect based on Likert scale answer of OHQoL index. Socio-demographic and education status of the patients were identified by a questionnaire. A cross analysis was done to infer the influences of socio-demographic and education status of patients on their perceived OHQoL stratified by severity of periodontal health. Results: Of 80 patients, 56% suffered severe periodontitis, followed by moderate (34%) and mild (10%). The negative effects of periodontitis on patients’ life quality were found across the four aspects assessed. Age group influence on perceived OHQoL was significantly found among moderate and severe periodontitis patients (p0.05) regardless of disease severity. Conclusion: Periodontitis had an impact on quality of life and the most prevalent negative aspects were found in patients with severe chronic periodontitis. This study could not provide the significance influences of socio-demographic and educational status of the periodontitis patients except age factor on their OHQoL. A further study with adequate sample size needs to be carried out with more socio-demographic variables (occupation and marital status)