Purpose:This study aimed to investigate the association between excessive daytime sleepiness and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in dental and dental-hygiene students using a cross-sectional design.
Materials and Methods:Dental students and dental-hygiene students completed a sociodemographic and habits questionnaire. Oral health-related quality (OHRQoL) of life was assessed using the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), and sleep quality was determined using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Student’s t-tests and chi-squared tests were used to analyse the association between oral health-related quality of life with sleep and other variables. A linear regression model was constructed to adjust the effect of daytime sleepiness for oral health-related quality of life.
Results:The dimenstion of the OHIP that had the worst scores was physical pain (mean: 1.45; SD: 1.49). Excessive daytime sleepiness impaired the OHRQoL specifically because of physical pain, functional limitation, physical disability, and psychological disability. In the adjusted analysis, the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness increased the OHIP score to 2.54 points (95% CI: 1.09-3.99). To be female and to study at the technical-school level was also associated with a reduction of OHRQoL.
Conclusion:The presence of excessive daytime sleepiness impaired the OHRQoL of students. Excessive daytime sleepiness is a factor associated with lower OHRQoL. Integration of sleep monitoring in interventions aimed at improving the OHRQoL could have a relevant impact on young adult patients. Keywords: daytime sleepiness, dental students, oral health impact profile, oral health-related quality of life