Impact of oral potentially malignant disorders on quality of life

Background Oral potentially malignant disorders ( OPMD s) could have a significant psychological impact on patients, principally because of the unknown risk of malignant transformation, while the physical and functional impairments could differ. This study aimed to assess the impact of three different OPMD s and their disease stages on the quality of life (QoL) of affected patients. Methods Oral leukoplakia ( OL ), oral lichen planus ( OLP ) and oral submucous fibrosis ( OSF ) patients who were undergoing treatment at an oral medicine clinic of a dental teaching hospital in India were the study population. All subjects completed the recently developed OPMDQ oL questionnaire and a short form 12 item (version 2) health survey questionnaire ( SF ‐12v2). OPMDQ oL questionnaire consists of 20 items over four dimensions. A higher score denotes poor OHRQ oL. SF ‐12v2 has two components, a Physical Component Summary ( PCS ) and Mental Component Summary ( MCS ). Results A total of 150 subjects (50 each of OL , OLP and OSF ) participated. OL patients (37.7 ± 7.9) reported significantly better OPMDQ oL scores than OLP (47.3 ± 5.8) and OSF (45.4 ± 9.2) patients. OLP patients reported significant problems in obtaining a clear diagnosis for their condition, more so than the other OPMD s. OL patients reported fewer problems for the dimension, “physical impairment and functional limitations” than the OLP and OSF patients. A significant trend was observed with the overall OPMDQ oL and MCS , deteriorating as the disease stage increased. Conclusions OLP and OSF have a significant impact on the QoL of affected individuals: OL less so. Increasing stage of the disease is associated with worsening QoL.