Oral Health and the Effect on Quality of Life in a Zambian population

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to investigate how oral health affects the quality of life among patients attending a dental clinic in Livingstone, and patients attending the Dental training school in Lusaka, Zambia. A total of 160 patients was consecutively selected and participated in the study, between the ages 16-68 (32 ± 11.8; mean ± SD). Interviews were done using a questionnaire “The oral impacts on daily performances” (OIDP). Of all the patients, 80% reported that they were affected by their oral health with at least one problem. Difficulty with “eating and enjoying food” was the most frequently performance affected (54%) and “speaking and pronouncing” was the least performance reported (16%). Overall, 20% of the participants reported that they did not have any problems. When reported having a problem, 3 and 4 number of problems were the most frequently occurring. Two open questions were asked, “What is the reason for your visit” and “What do you think is the problem”. The most common answer to the first question was “pain” (38.8%) and to the second question, “don´t know” (23.1%). This study found that 80% felt that their oral health affected their daily activities and QoL.