Abstract:
Oral diseases are the most prevalent non-communicable public health problems affecting
about 3.58 billion people globally, with dental caries being the most prevalent condition
(Oral Health - World Health Organization, 2016). There has also been an increasing
burden of oral health conditions in Africa and the Middle East region for over ten years
(Abdelatif et al, 2015). In Kenya, the 2015 national oral health survey report indicated
that all adult respondents had at least one prevailing dental condition that required
attention (Ministry of Health – Unit of Oral Health, 2015). The current oral health care
approaches at Mathari Hospital and other public health care settings have emphasized
curative oral health care over socio-environmental concerns of dental patients. This was
a three months cross-sectional study at the dental unit of Mathari hospital, Nairobi City,
Kenya. The broad objective was to assess the oral health conditions and oral health
related quality of life (OHRQoL) of adult dental patients at Mathari Hospital dental unit
and to investigate associations amongst the oral health attributes. The 1997 World
Health Organization (WHO) adult oral health assessment form was used to collect data
on oral health status while data on OHRQoL was collected by administering short
version of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14). Descriptive statistics were computed.
Chi-square test was conducted to test for associations between oral health status
variables and attributes of OHRQoL (α = 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis was
conducted to test the relationship between the individual and collective attributes of oral
health status and OHRQoL.249 adults were enrolled into the study translating to 101%
response rate. 77 (31%) and 172 (69%) of the respondents were male and female
respectively. There was a mean of 5.16±3.56 decayed teeth per person. The mean of
missing teeth due to decay per person was 3.56±4.229. The mean of filled teeth per
person was 0.33±0.85. The mean decay, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) was
9.04±5.995. DMFT score was contributed to mainly by decayed and missing teeth at
57.02% and 39.34% respectively. Filled teeth contributed 4% to the DMFT score. From
the OHIP-14 scale, 140 (56%) of the respondents experienced painful aching in the
mouth and found it uncomfortable to eat any foods. 103 (41.4%) respondents
experienced unsatisfactory diet, 87 (35.05%) reported psychological discomfort and
36.5% reported physical pain, fairly and very often. The Chi-square test produced a
statistically significant association between DMFT and painful aching in the mouth (χ2
= 16.12, p = 0.002, 12 degrees of freedom (d.f). After carrying out multiple linear
regression analysis the nine independent variables explained only 14.4% of the
variations in oral health related quality of life. However, DMFT was found to be
significant (p-value = 0.03). The mean decayed teeth per person of 5.16±3.56 from this
study was consistent with 78.2% for a study in Ethiopia on prevalence of dental caries
was (Tafere, 2018). DMFT (9.04±5.995) in the study may not have been a reflection of
the actual occurrence of dental caries in the neighborhood community, although it
shades some light on the oral health status of adults living around the hospital. 36.5% of
the respondents in this study reported fairly and very often thresholds for physical pain
dimension more than other dimensions in the OHIP-14 scale.