A Study To Assess The Oral Health Related Quality Of Life And Self Esteem Among Dental Fluorosis Patients Of Different Severity Levels In Chennai: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: An individual's overall health and well-being are closely linked to their oral health and sense of self-worth. It is a multifaceted concept that encompasses subjective assessment of oral health, emotional and functional well-being, and oral health satisfaction. In the 20th century, a number of indices were created to quantify dental fluorosis.  METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with different severity levels of dental fluorosis patients, according to the Modified Dean’s Fluorosis Index. The study comprises six groups, and the participants with an absence of fluorosis were considered the control group. Here the total number of participants is 384. Assessment of oral health impact was done using an OHIP-14 item questionnaire. Similarly, the self-esteem of the participants was assessed with the help of Rosenberg’s 10-item questionnaire, and the scores were calculated. Analysis was done using the chi-square test and Spearman correlation. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05        RESULTS: There were 36.4% of participants who had low oral health impact in the control group (p = 0.00), whereas the experimental group had a high oral health impact upon increasing severity of dental fluorosis. The self-esteem of the individual with a severe level of fluorosis is low compared with that of the control group. Also, the correlation between self-esteem and oral health impact was established    CONCLUSION: The study concluded that the oral health impact was high in participants with a severe level of fluorosis. Also, the self-esteem of the participants with severe levels of fluorosis was low.  The correlation between the oral health impact and self-esteem was also found, i.e., the self-esteem was low in participants with a high level of oral health impact.