Oral health quality-of-life among undergraduate Malaysian dental students.

AIM To assess the oral health quality of life among Malaysian dental students using the Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) scale. MATERIAL AND METHOD Malaysian dental students of Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal campus, Manipal University, Manipal answered a structured questionnaire recording the demographic characteristics, behavioral characteristics and eight items of OIDP. RESULTS The mean OIDP ADD and OIDP SC scores were respectively, 4.10 (sd = 5.16, range 8 - 40) and 2. 3 (sd = 2.3, range 0-8). A total of 50%, 32.9% and 28.6% of the dental students confirmed difficulties with eating, cleaning teeth and sleeping and relaxing, respectively. Statistically significant relationships were observed between OIDP (ultimate oral impact) and a count of non-clinical oral health indicators representing the second (intermediate) levels of oral impact. Logistic regression analysis revealed that dental students who were dissatisfied with their oral health had greater oral impact than their counterparts. The odds ratios for satisfaction with oral health, dental visits and frequency of brushing teeth were respectively 1.74 (0.58-5.32), 0.59 (0.11-3.24) and 1.33 (0.41-4.30). CONCLUSION The study reports the Oral Impact on Daily Performance among Malaysian dental students and provides evidence of importance of social and behavioral characteristics in shaping dental students response.