Abstract
BACKGROUND: The assessment of oral heath related quality of life (OHRQoL) for complete denture wearers according to a participant's subjective perception may provide an indication of the adaptive capacity of the individual. The aim of this study was to compare and assess the validation of two quality of life measures, the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) and Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI), in patients with and without previous denture experience. METHODS: A total of 69 elders (36 male and 34 female; mean age, 63 years) from Dental Clinics of the University of Khartoum and the National University in Sudan, with and without previous denture experience, were included in the study. OHRQoL was assessed using two Arabic-translated questionnaires (OHIP-14 and GOHAI) before and after complete denture therapy. Global self-ratings of oral and general health were obtained, and denture satisfaction was assessed using the Denture Satisfaction questionnaire. RESULTS: Both tools had significant correlations with self-rating oral health in patients without denture experience (P < 0.05). However, no significant correlations were found in patients with denture experience. There were significant differences between pre-and post-treatment total scores with both the GOHAI and OHIP-14 (P < 0.001). Responsiveness to treatment using GOHAI and OHIP-14 revealed overall mean effect size higher in patients without (1.49) and (0.83) than those with previous denture experience (0.89) and (0.60), respectively. However, neither tool could detect significant differences between patients with and without denture experience (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Greater improvements of OHRQoL after complete denture therapy were observed in participants without than those with previous denture experience. The Arabic-translated versions of GOHAI and OHIP-14 can be regarded as effective measures for assessing treatment outcomes of complete denture therapy.