Comparison of Oral Health-Related Quality Of Life among Adult Referred to Public and Private Dental Clinics of Mashhad, Iran

Nowadays, appraisal of patient's perception of health has largely replaced the clinical evaluations. This study aimed to compare oral health-related quality of life in patients referring to public and private clinics in Mashhad, Iran.
In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 383 patients referred to five private and two public dental clinics in Mashhad, Iran. The study variables including age, gender, level of education, functional dentition status, decayed, missing, and filled teeth, and the reason for referral were recorded. Oral Impact on Daily Performance (OIDP) score was calculated for each patient. To analyze the data, independent samples t-test, Man-Whitney U test, and Chi-squared test were run.
The reason for visiting the public and private clinics was significantly different (P The mean OIDP score was significantly higher in public clinics, that is, oral health-related quality of life was lower in patients referring to public clinics.