Gender based comparison of impact of dental pain on the quality of life among out patients of a private dental college in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Introduction: Dental pain is the most common reason for the patients to visit a dental office and anxious patients typically expect more pain than they experience. Dental pain has an impact on the patient's oral health and quality of life. Aims: To evaluate and compare the dental pain and anxiety levels in both male and female patients prior to dental treatment and to assess the influence of oral health on the quality of life. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a Private Dental College in Tamil Nadu which included 201 patients consisting of 101 males and 100 females. The origin of dental pain was identified and the patients were asked to indicate the level of pain experienced by them at the moment with the help of a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS), numerical scale (NS), verbal pain rating scale (VRS), and faces pain scale. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to evaluate dental anxiety before self-assessment questionnaire, Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) was used to assess the impact of dental pain on the quality of life of the patients. GFNx01 Statistical software was used for statistical analysis. Results: The mean age of males was of 36.57 years and for females it was 35.50 years. The number of patients who had pulpal pain (68.66%) was greater than those who had periodontal pain (29.35%). The mean score of VAS for males (55.41 ± 20.43) was significantly lower than the females (62.51 ± 1.73). The mean score of NS was 54.46 ± 20.71 for males and 62.50 ± 21.38 for females. Severe pain was reported by 27% females and 15.8% males in VRS. It was found using the MDAS that 5% of females and only 1.5% of males had dental phobia. The mean OHIP-14 score was 19.73 ± 9.43 for females and 16.67 ± 8.72 for males. The male patients reported a lower impact on oral health than the females. Conclusions: The level of pain and anxiety experienced by female patients are greater when compared to males. Dental pain affected the quality of life and the impact being higher in case of females.

Keywords

• Dental pain
• modified dental anxiety scale
• oral health impact profile-14
• pain scale