Components of self-reported oral health and general health in racial and ethnic groups

Objective: The objective of this study is to investigate the validity of th e General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI), a self-reported oral health measure, when used in an all-age adult sample of Hispanics and African-Ame ricans. Methods: The study groups were 506 disadvantaged Hispanic and Afric an-American adults who were recruited at low-cost medical and dental clinic s. To explore the validity of the GOHAI in an all-age, ethnically diverse s ample, principal component and principal factor analyses were conducted on the 12 items of the GOHAI and the 14 items constituting the MOS physical/so cial and mental health components. Results: Four factors accounted for 40 p ercent of the fetal variance of health as measured by the MOS and GOHAI ite ms: general health, physical/worry oral health, mental health, and social o ral health. An association between socioeconomic variables and each subscal e was found to be significant except for the physical/worry oral health sub scale. Conclusions: This study confirms that the GOHAI is valid when used i n younger and ethnically diverse samples. The findings also emphasize that oral health is distinct from general health and that the use of generic sel f-reported measures of health may miss important aspects of oral health tha t are valuable for dental health professionals.