Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Goal of this study was to investigate, whether sialendoscopy in obstructive salivary gland disorders affects patients' oral health-related quality of life compared to healthy individuals, and to determine factors that might influence this relationship. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: University of Kiel, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A group of 130 patients, undergoing sialendoscopy between 01/2004 and 06/2017 was considered. Oral health-related quality of life was assessed using the OHIP-G14 (Oral Health Impact Profile) in combination with a custom-made questionnaire on satisfaction and success in relation to sialendoscopy. RESULTS: Oral health-related quality of life of patients without dentures or with removable dentures was significantly worse than in the healthy population, whereas the necessity of multiple additional follow-up treatments was associated with worse oral health-related quality of life. No essential predisposing factors were identified. Average satisfaction with the intervention was observed to be x̅ = 4.33 (SD = 3.69) on a visual analogue scale from 1 (=very satisfied) to 10 (=very unsatisfied). A longer follow-up period and a higher patients' age were positively related, whereas removal of salivary gland during follow-up was negatively related to satisfaction. In 113 cases (86.9%) long-term preservation was accomplished and 115 (88.5%) patients would repeat a sialendoscopy in case needed. CONCLUSION: In summary, sialendoscopy resulted in long-term high subjective and objective success rates. However, oral health-related quality of life scores did not reach those levels found in the healthy population.