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Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the associations between normative orthodontic treatment need and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) at an item level as well as subscale and total score levels among schoolchildren., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2,010 randomly selected children aged approximately 8, 10, 12, and 15 years residing in the Gyeonggi province, Korea. Children were clinically examined with the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). To measure OHRQoL, the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP) was used., Results: In the physical health domain of COHIP, crooked teeth, discoloration, "food sticking," and "difficulty keeping teeth clean" were significantly associated with IOTN levels (P < 0.05), whereas pain, sensitivity and bleeding, bad breath, mouth breathing, and dry mouth were not. In addition, present and future dental health were significantly associated with IOTN levels, although self-confidence, attractiveness, and future health were not. As expected, the 5 subscale scores and total score of COHIP were significantly associated with IOTN levels after adjustment for gender, age, socioeconomic level, and caries state., Conclusions: This study suggests the importance of in-depth investigation at the item level of OHRQoL assessment scales to better evaluate the impact of malocclusion that might be alleviated by orthodontic treatment., (Copyright © 2018 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To assess the knowledge, confidence and awareness of the importance of assessing oral cancer risk among dental hygienists working in Korea and to provide data for the development of theoretical and technical curricula related to oral cancer prevention tasks., Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to 195 dental hygienists, recruited from an online posting. Survey questions were related to the study objectives and demographic characteristics of the participants. An independent t-test and one-way Analysis of Variance were performed to determine the relationships between study variables and participant demographic characteristics., Results: Seventy-five percent of the participants agreed that it is necessary to conduct oral cancer risk factor assessment for patients, while 46% agreed it was the duty of dental hygienists. The percentage of participants responding correctly to oral cancer risk factors and to oral cancer characteristics ranged from 98% to 31%. Participants with a master's degree or higher and those with oral cancer education experience were significantly (p < 0.003, p < 0.007, respectively) more aware of the importance of assessing oral cancer risk factors. Participants, who performed non-treatment-related work, had significantly (p < 0.046) greater performance confidence than that of clinicians. In addition, 52.5% of the participants had no prior education in oral cancer and 80.8% agreed that additional education and training were required., Conclusions: To improve dental hygienists' knowledge of oral cancer risk factors, it is important to provide specific knowledge, and an educational curriculum is necessary that allows incorporating medical interviews, visual inspections and palpation for comprehensive assessments., (© 2024 The Authors. International Journal of Dental Hygiene published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: This study aims to comprehensively assess the association of subjective and objective oral health status and oral health behaviors with happiness, under consideration of demographic, socioeconomic, and general health-related factors. This study also aims to test whether subjective oral health outcomes are better predictors of happiness compared with objective oral health outcomes., Methods: The data were collected from 479 community-dwelling elders aged 65 years or over selected by a cluster sampling method. A questionnaire and an oral examination were implemented. A multiple regression method was conducted to assess associations with happiness index (HI)., Results: The mean age of the elders was 74.6 years. Mean (standard deviation, SD) HI, EuroQol-visual analog scale (EQ-VAS) and 14-item oral health impact profile (OHIP-14) index were 5.7 (SD 2.3), 59.8 (SD 21.1), and 16.3 (SD 13.1). In the final model, a significant association with HI of the OHIP-14 index (P = 0.091) among all the participants and significant associations of oral symptoms (P = 0.038), wearing a removable denture (P = 0.039), and of the oral health behavior of daily toothbrushing (P = 0.007) among poorer oral health QoL group were confirmed under consideration of other related factors. While correlations of HI to subjective measures of health, EQ-VAS and OHIP-14 score were moderate to weak, those to objective measures of health were only weak or insignificant., Conclusions: Oral impacts which might persistently affect one's daily life need to be considered in designing and delivering public services aimed to promote people's happiness. With oral health impacts and behaviors accounting for 10% of happiness among elders, public and community services for the elderly that support oral health and daily toothbrushing for the dentate are critical for the well-being of our elders., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent validity of the Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP) Korean version in a representative community sample of 8- to 15-year-old Korean children., Methods: A Korean version of COHIP was developed according to the standard procedure of cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported instruments. A representative community sample of 2236 schoolchildren was selected by cluster sampling method., Results: Mean age of the participants was 11.8 years. Mean and median of the overall COHIP score were 103.3 (SD 13.3) and 106, respectively. Internal reliability and retest reliability were excellent with Chronbach's alpha 0.88 and intraclass correlation coefficient 0.88. Face validity was confirmed with 98% of participants reporting the COHIP questionnaire was easy to answer. Nonclinical factors such as self-rated oral health or satisfaction with oral health were significantly related with overall COHIP score and five subscale scores (P < 0.001) in a consistent manner. Children with carious permanent teeth and with orthodontic treatment need had highly significantly lower overall COHIP score (P < 0.01)., Conclusion: The Korean version of the COHIP was successfully developed. The internal reliability, retest reliability, face validity, discriminant validity, and convergent validity of the COHIP Korean version were confirmed., (© 2011 The Authors. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry © 2011 BSPD, IAPD and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the association between oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) measured by the oral impacts on daily performances (OIDP) inventory and chewing ability., Methods: The cluster sampling method was used to select a sample of 634 socially active independent community-dwelling elders. An oral examination was conducted and a questionnaire was implemented. After bivariate comparisons, a multivariable two-level logistic model was developed for the dichotomous OIDP indicator using the generalised linear mixed model., Results: The mean age of the participants was 74 years and 56.6% were women. Eight percent were edentulous, and the mean number of teeth was 17.7. Overall, 39.3% of participants had one or more oral impacts on daily performance. Elders with chewing ability of 0-49, 50-74 and 75-99% were approximately 120, 20 and seven times more likely to have oral impacts compared with those with full chewing ability, respectively. Elders reporting their oral health as 'fair' or 'better' were 68% less likely to have oral impacts than those with poor or very poor self-reported oral health., Conclusion: Among independent elders, amelioration of chewing ability including delivery of appropriate prosthodontic care might independently contribute to improving OHRQoL of elders by improving their physical, psychological and social wellbeing., (© 2012 The Gerodontology Society and John Wiley & Sons A/S.)

Aims: To investigate the smoking habits and attitudes toward anti-smoking activities of Korean dentists according to their smoking status., Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of 2500 currently active Korean dentists in 2008. After 20% of the 1680 returned surveys (response rate 67.2%) were excluded due to missing data, 1443 surveys were analysed., Results: Among the 1443 respondents, most were male (81.8%) and age 40-49 was the most prevalent age group (41.6%). Approximately half of participating dentists were never-smokers, 24.6% were current smokers, and 29% were ex-smokers. Women (95.8%) were significantly more likely to have never smoked than men (35.4%). Prevalence of cigarette smoking of Korean male and female dentists was much lower than that of male and female Korean adults, respectively. Ex-smokers were significantly more likely to show a positive attitude about anti-smoking activities, compared to current smokers (p < .0001)., Conclusions: A majority of respondents agreed dentists should encourage their patients to stop smoking. Further effort is needed to encourage smoking cessation among male Korean dentists who smoke so they benefit from a healthier lifestyle and will subsequently be more likely to provide recommendations for smoking prevention and cessation for their patients.