An assessment of sensitivity to change of the Oral Health Impact Profile in a clinical trial

Patient-based assessment of oral health outcomes is of growing interest. Me asurement of change following clinical intervention is a key property of a health status measure. To date, most of the research on oral health status measurement has focused on construct and discriminant validity of health st atus measures. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess sensit ivity to change of an oral - specific health status measure, the Oral Healt h Impact Profile (OHIP). Methods: Study subjects were in three groups, name ly, edentulous/edentate subjects who requested and received complete implan t stabilised oral prostheses (IG, n=26), edentulous/edentate subjects who r equested implants but received conventional dentures (CDG1, n=22), and eden tulous subjects who had new conventional complete dentures (CDG2, n=35). Da ta were collected pre- and post-operatively using the OHIP and a validated denture satisfaction questionnaire. Results: All subjects reported similar low levels of denture satisfaction pre-operatively. Denture problems had a more significant impact on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQL) for implant seekers (IG and CDG1 subjects) than subjects seeking conventional d entures (CDG2). Following treatment, significant improvement in satisfactio n with oral prostheses and OHRQL was reported by IG and CDG2 subjects; the level of improvement was more moderate for CDG1 subjects. OHIP change score s were correlated with denture satisfaction change scores. Conclusions: It was concluded that sensitivity to change of the OHIP was good. This propert y was not improved by using statement weights.