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Objectives: To examine whether patients who report orofacial pain (OP) and temporomandibular disorders (TMD)
have a poorer perception of their oral health-related quality of life and, if so, to what extent, and to analyze the
association between oral health perception, sociodemographic variables and reported pain duration.
Study Design: 407 patients treated at the OP and TMD units in the Healthcare District of Cordoba, Spain, diag
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nosed following the standard criteria accepted by the scientific community - the Research Diagnostic Criteria for
Temporomandibular Disorders (RDC/TMD) - were administered the Spanish version of the Oral Health Impact
Profile questionnaire (OHIP-14). Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the de
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gree of association between the patients` OHIP-14 score and pain duration, pain intensity, and various sociode
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mographic variables.
Results: The observed distribution was 89.4% women and 10.6% men. The mean OHIP-14 score was 20.57 ± 10.73
(mean ± standard deviation). A significant association (p<0.05) was found for gender, age, marital status, chronic
pain grade, self-perceived oral health status and pain duration.
Conclusions: The analysis of self-perceived oral health status in patients with OP and TMD, as measured by the
OHIP-14, showed that oral health is perceived more negatively by women. Moreover, a one-point increase in the
Chronic Pain Grade indicator increases the OHIP-14 indicator by 4.6 points, while chronic pain, defined as pain suf
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fered by patients for one year or more, increases the OHIP-14 indicator by 3.2 points.
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