Liberian Middle School Students' Oral Health and Quality of Life

Objectives: to assess the oral health-related quality of life (ohrqol) of middle school students in Liberia and to explore whether their self perceived oral health is significantly correlated with (a) their pain related ohrqol, (b) the ohrqol impacts on their lives, and (c) their overall ohrqol.

Methods: Data were collected from 406 students in 8 middle schools (grades 6 to 8) in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia in West Africa. One hundred and forty eight boys and 257 girls responded to self administered surveys. The students ranged in age from 8 to 24 years (mean=14.64; SD=2.786). Ohrqol was assessed with the Michigan Oral Health-related Quality of Life Scale for children.

Results: 18.3% of the respondents had pain at the time they responded to the survey, 48.7% experienced pain when they chew tough food, 41.1% had a toothache when they eat something hot or cold, 37% when they eat something sweet, 35.6% when they chew or bite, and 12.2% when they open their mouth wide. Concerning the impacts of the respondents' oral health status on their quality of lives, it was found that 40.6% reported that a tooth ache kept them from playing, 36% reported that a tooth ache woke them up at night, 32.9% that they had a toothache while in school, 27.8% that a tooth ache kept them from paying attention in school, and 26.3% that it prevented them from attending school. The respondents' self perceived oral health correlated significantly with their pain related ohrqol scores (r=.36; p<.001), their impact related ohrqol scores (r=.26; p<.001), and their psychological ohrqol scores (r=.53; p<.001). The older the students were, the poorer their self reported oral health and their ohrqol was.

Conclusion: These data showed the tremendous impact that poor oral health has on middle school students' oral health-related quality of life.