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Sir, I enjoyed reading Stephen Hancocks' editorial Asking the right questions (2016; 221: 47), where he highlights a paper published in the Journal of Dentistry1 showing that the majority of research has focused on technical aspects of dentistry. He then comments on the fact that 'quality of life' was rarely considered. In the context of societal change, including disease trends, he asks the question should we think differently about the research commissioned and undertaken?
As a retired clinician and visiting Professor of Community General Dental Practice I could not agree more with his sentiment. As far back as 1996 I and a colleague published a paper in Primary Dental Care2 describing a cross sectional study utilising an oral health quality of life (OHQoL) measure to establish a general dental practice profile of OHQoL within my own dental practice. To this day the value of measuring OHQoL has not been truly recognised and integrated into general dental practice systems. The objective measurement of subjective OHQoL could be an invaluable tool to be established in general dental practice. It is my view that research should be undertaken to facilitate and integrate OHQoL measurement into general dental practice.
What is important to patients are the three Ds – discomfort, disability and discontent. An OHQoL measure could establish this on a national and practice basis, from this one could establish benchmarks for practice. We would then not rely on experts to judge outcomes of clinical decision making but rather observe objective outcome profiles, which would be much more evidence based.
To quote Stephen Hancocks: 'If we are going to continue to provide good patient care we need to start asking more of the right questions', clearly research is needed into the 'fluffier side of patient care' to answer important questions regarding the use of OHQoL measures in general dental practice. In my view this is long overdue.
References
Fleming P S, Koletsi D, O'Brien K, Tsichlaki A . Are dental researchers asking patient-important questions? A scoping review. J Dent 2016; 49: 9–13.
Richards W, Scourfield S . Oral ill health in a general dental practice in south Wales. Prim Dent Care 1996; 3: 14–22.
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Richards, W. Dental research: Quality of life. Br Dent J 221, 213 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2016.622
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2016.622