The development of a socio-dental measure of dental impacts on daily living

Abstract

This study outlines the development of a socio-dental method which includes measures of the impacts of oral health status on the quality of daily living. The measure, the Dental Impact on Daily Living (DIDL), has five dimensions: Comfort, Appearance, Pain, Performance and Eating Restriction (CAPPER). DIDL differs from other socio-dental indicators in that it assesses the dental impacts on daily living, the relative importance respondents attribute to each impact dimension and their oral status. Weighting is assigned by every person through an easy to use scale using a sliding arrow that the subject moves. DIDL generates an impact score for each dimension. In addition, since impacts do not usually occur separately, a single total impact score is also estimated to assess total oral impacts. The instrument was tested using item-analysis, factor analysis, validation and reliability tests. The measure was tested in Brazil on a sample of 662 people, aged 35 to 44 years, of two social classes and both genders. Three different levels of oral status were used: high DMFT, medium DMFT and low DMFT. Estimating the relative importance people attributed to the different dimensions was important as shown by the fact that differences between sub-groups were found. DIDL attempts to assess how oral health is perceived by individuals and how the mouth and teeth affect people. Combined with clinical status measures, DIDL should prove a valuable tool to assess need.