Oral Health and Dental Management

Abstract

Oral health and oral and maxillofacial cancer - Related quality of life

C

Introduction. Quality of life is a complex concept which draws the attention of specialists from various domains such as: sociology, medicine, finance, psychology, epidemiology, political science, etc. Data collection and methods. In order to evaluate the oral health-related quality of life various instruments with a variable number of items were employed. A well-known and much employed instrument in evaluating the quality of life is World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL). It has six domains, twenty-four facets or dimensions and one hundred items. Results. An absolutely certain prerequisite for the improvement of the oral health-related quality of life is that which motivates, with strong arguments, the responsibility of dental specialists for a current preventive oncological check-up. In our experience only 30% of the oral cancer cases are detected and referred to experts by dental specialists. Conclusion. Regarding the most important items in the questionnaires, the multiple choice options should be simplified and adjusted to the Romanian language and to the comprehension ability of the respondents (interviewees). Oral and maxillofacial oncological pathology does not draw the attention and interest of dental specialists as much as other pathologies such as dental caries and parodontopathy.