Comparação da qualidade de vida entre sujeitos com fissuras labiopalatinas e sujeitos edentados : uma análise quantitativa e qualitativa

Abstract

Patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and edentulous patients are considered physically mutilated individuals. Although with different tooth loss etiologies, they both have functional and aesthetic limitations. Dental loss is associated with poor quality of life (QoL) because of decreased self-esteem and psychosocial function. The objective of this study was to evaluate, through a quantitative and qualitative analysis, the impact of oral rehabilitation on the quality of life of edentulous patients and CLP subjects. A convenience sample of 46 adult patients, composed of 15 men and 31 women, was divided into two groups: (G_CLP) with CLP (n=20) and (G_PTFI) with implant-supported fixed total prosthesis (n=20). OHIP-14 was used for quantitative QoL analysis. Data were analyzed by the additive method and Kruskal Wallis test. Patients with poor QoL scores in both groups (n=9) participated of qualitative phase performed with semi-structured interviews. The OHIP-14 results showed a significant difference between the two groups (p <0.05). G_PTFI had worse QoL than G_FLP in all dimensions. In the qualitative analysis, before the oral rehabilitation of G_PTFI, the most affected dimensions were physical pain and physical incapacity. For G_CLP, the most affected dimensions were self-esteem and functional limitation. After the prosthetic treatment, G_CLP reported a considerable improvement in the psychosocial functions and a high degree of satisfaction with the treatment, although they also perceived a decrease in physical functions. G_PTFI reported improvement in all dimensions but were not satisfied with the overall treatment and aesthetics. OHIP-14 shows that QoL is affected by oral conditions but cannot detect the origin and magnitude of the problems by itself. The qualitative study provides a deeper and comprehensive interview understanding of QoL considering the individual aspects of each patient.