Measuring the impact of oral mucosa disease on quality of life.

Our objective was to study the quality of life in patients with oral mucosa disease. Two hundred sixteen consecutive patients with oral pathology were studied at the Department of Oral Medicine, University of Murcia (Spain). Sixty patients had burning mouth syndrome, 100 oral lichen planus, 41 recurrent aphthous stomatitis and 15 had and other oral mucosa disorders. The instruments applied were the Spanish version of the SF-36, used to evaluate general quality of life, and the OHIP-49, Spanish version, to measure oral health-related quality of life. With respect to oral quality of life (OHIP-49 all items), the worst scores were found for burning mouth syndrome. The group formed by other mucosal lesions presented the lowest scores for the domains role physical and general health in the SF-36. Oral mucosa diseases have a negative impact on health and quality of life. Administration of specific and generic questionnaires provides a detailed picture of the impact of oral diseases on patients, which adds information that may be useful in clinical practice.