Assessing change in quality of life using the Oral Health Impact Profile in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery: A before and after comparison with a minimal follow-up of two years.

PURPOSE: Here we evaluated how orthognathic surgery impacted oral health-related quality of life among patients with dentofacial deformities in the immediate postoperative period and during >/=2 years of follow-up, using the OHIP-14-NL questionnaire. METHODS: This prospective study included 86 patients. Quality of life was assessed using the Dutch version of the Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire (OHIP-14-NL) preoperatively (T(0), baseline), over 7 days postoperatively (T(1)-T(7)), and at 4 weeks (T(8)), 6 months (T(9)), 1 year (T(10)), and >/=2 years (T(11)) postoperatively. Total OHIP score was determined for each patient. Lower OHIP scores indicated higher oral health-related quality of life. Patients also answered questions regarding self-care, discomfort, and experienced pain at all time-points, starting from T(1). RESULTS: Compared to baseline (T(0)), median OHIP scores were significantly higher from T(1) to T(8). However, at T(9) to T(11), OHIP scores were significantly lower compared to baseline (T(0)) (p < 0.01). OHIP scores were not correlated with gender, age, or blood loss; and did not significantly differ according to surgery type or surgery indication (p > 0.01). Pain scores were positively correlated with OHIP scores for all time-points, except T(6) and T(10). Pain was not correlated with sex, age, blood loss, surgery duration, surgery indication, or surgery type. Compared to at T(1), pain was significantly decreased at T(9)-T(11). CONCLUSION: Among patients who underwent orthognathic surgery, oral health-related quality of life was decreased in the immediate postoperative period, but improved at >/=6 months postoperatively. The improvement was significant 2 years after orthognathic surgery.