Quality of life and oral health among hypertensive and diabetic people in a Brazilian Southeastern city

This research aimed to assess the oral health related to quality of life among hypertensive and diabetic patients in the city of Alfenas, Brazil. This was a domiciliary-based, descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional research with a random, systematic sample stratified by the Family Health Team, consisting of 218 individuals. The following indexes were applied: DMFT, T-Health, FS-T, SiC index, use and need of prosthesis and OHIP-14. Most of the patients (56.42%) had only high blood pressure, were females (67.43%), with an average age of 64.83 (+/- 11.99) years old, varying between 35 and 93 years old. No significant differences on the variables between hypertensives, diabetics and hypertensive-diabetics were noticed. The following data was registered: DMFT=27.16 (+/- 6.15), with 22.94 (+/- 10.46) of missing teeth; T-Health=5.23 (+/- 6.52); FS-T=8.53 (+/- 10.12) and SiC=32 (+/- 0.00). 85.78% of the individuals were using prosthesis (58.72% Dentures) and 61.01% needed prostheses (58.26% in the jaw). The correlations between OHIP-14 (5.37 [+/- 4.95]) and oral health evidenced the increase in the number of teeth affecting psychological dimensions, besides the use and need of prostheses were associated to physical and social impacts (p < 0.05). We concluded that edentulism, use and need of prostheses affected quality of life in hypertensive and diabetic patients concerning psychological, physical and social aspects.