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The study aimed to assess the value placed on oral health states by measuring the utility of mouths in which teeth had been lost and to explore variations in utility values within and between two contrasting cultures, UK and Iran. One hundred and fifty eight patients, 84 from UK and 74 from Iran, were recruited from clinics at University-based faculties of dentistry. All had experienced tooth loss and had restored or unrestored dental spaces. They were presented with 19 different scenarios of mouths with missing teeth. Fourteen involved the loss of one tooth and five involved shortened dental arches (SDAs) with varying numbers of missing posterior teeth. Each written description was accompanied by a verbal explanation and digital pictures of mouth models. Participants were asked to indicate on a standardized Visual Analogue Scale how they would value the health of their mouth if they had lost the tooth/teeth described and the resulting space was left unrestored. With a utility value of 0·0 representing the worst possible health state for a mouth and 1·0 representing the best, the mouth with the upper central incisor missing attracted the lowest utility value in both samples (UK = 0·16; Iran = 0·06), while the one with a missing upper second molar the highest utility values (0·42, 0·39 respectively). In both countries the utility value increased as the tooth in the scenario moved from the anterior towards the posterior aspect of the mouth. There were significant differences in utility values between UK and Iranian samples for four scenarios all involving the loss of anterior teeth. These differences remained after controlling for gender, age and the state of the dentition. With respect to the SDA scenarios, a mouth with a SDA with only the second molar teeth missing in all quadrants attracted the highest utility values, while a mouth with an extreme SDA with both missing molar and premolar teeth in all quadrants attracted the lowest utility values. The study provided further evidence of the validity of the scaling approach to utility measurement in mouths with missing teeth. Some cross-cultural variations in values were observed but these should be viewed with due caution because the magnitude of the differences was small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To develop and validate a condition specific measure of oral health-related quality of life for dentine hypersensitivity (Dentine Hypersensitivity Experience Questionnaire, DHEQ)., Materials and Methods: Questionnaire construction used a multi-staged impact approach and an explicit theoretical model. Qualitative and quantitative development and validation included in-depth interviews, focus groups and cross-sectional questionnaire studies in a general population (n=160) and a clinical sample (n=108)., Results: An optimized DHEQ questionnaire containing 48 items has been developed to describe the pain, a scale to capture subjective impacts of dentine hypersensitivity, a global oral health rating and a scale to record effects on life overall. The impact scale had high values for internal reliability (nearly all item-total correlations >0.4 and Cronbach's α=0.86). Intra-class correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.92. The impact scale was strongly correlated to global oral health ratings and effects on life overall. These results were similar when DHEQ was validated in a clinical sample., Conclusions: DHEQ shows good psychometric properties in both a general population and clinical sample. Its use can further our understanding of the subjective impacts of dentine sensitivity., (© 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.)

Objective: To assess the reliability and validity of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14), an oral health related quality of life measure for 11-14 year old children, for use in the UK., Basic Research Design: Cross-sectional questionnaire and clinical analytical study., Clinical Setting: Orthodontic and paediatric dentistry clinics at a dental hospital and one general dental practice., Participants: Eighty-nine children between 11 and 14 years of age attending for an examination., Main Outcomes Measures: The children were invited to complete the CPQ11-14, global oral health and impact on life overall ratings. Clinical data on caries status, malocclusion and presence of dental opacities and gingivitis were collected. CPQ11-14 was summarised as the total score (sum of the item codes) and the number of impacts reported often or every day., Results: The Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.87 and ranged from 0.59 to 0.83 for the subscales indicating acceptable internal consistency. The intraclass correlation coefficient on repeated application of the measure was 0.83 (95% CI = 0.76-0.90) suggesting almost perfect agreement. Summary measures of CPQ11-14 correlated with the global oral health rating indicating acceptable criterion validity. Impact on life overall was related to all summary measures of CPQ11-14. Number of impacts correlated with the total number of missing teeth and missing teeth due to caries. No other relationships between clinical and CPQ11-14 data were apparent., Conclusion: The CPQ11-14 shows acceptable reliability, criterion and construct validity in relation to life overall. Relationships with clinical data were more tenuous. If this measure is to be used to compare the impacts of oral diseases in similar settings in the UK a large sample will be required.