Quality of life in patients with dentofacial deformity: a comparison of measurement approaches

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of dentofacial deformity on quality of life (QOL) as assessed by generic health, generic oral health and condition-specific approaches. A case-control study was performed involving 154 subjects: 76 with dentofacial deformity (non-cleft) and 76 without dentofacial deformity. Generic health-related QOL was assessed employing the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), generic oral health-related QOL was assessed by the 14-item short form Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) and condition-specific QOL was assessed by the 22-item Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ). No significant difference in SF-36 scores between case and control groups was observed (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in overall OHIP-14 scores (P < 0.001) and overall OQLQ scores (P < 0.001) between case and control groups. The results suggest that dentofacial deformity affects individuals in many aspects of their lives, and that generic oral health and condition-specific approaches to assessing QOL are able to discriminate patients with dentofacial deformities from those without, and thus have value in determining the impact of dentofacial deformities on QOL.