The internal responsiveness of the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 to detect differences in clinical parameters related to surgical third molar removal

PURPOSE: The present study examined the internal responsiveness of the short-form Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) and its ability to differentiate between patients with and without pre- and postoperative complaints as well as other clinical variables. METHODS: The sample consisted of 97 patients undergoing surgical third molar removal. The OHIP-14 was filled in preoperatively, on each postoperative day for a week and once more after 1 month. In addition, pre- and postoperative status was measured along with other clinical variables. RESULTS: The OHIP-14 is able to differentiate between the first preoperative day (M = 16.85, SD = 5.35) and all the days within the postoperative week (first day M = 29.46, SD = 9.32). One month postoperatively, mean OHIP scores are reduced to preoperative levels. In addition, differences could be shown between patients with and without pre- (M = 18.9, SD = 8.1 vs. M = 16.2, SD = 3.9) and postoperative complaints (M = 18.9, SD = 8.1 vs. M = 16.2, SD = 3.9), partial (preop; M = 17.8, SD = 6.8, postoperative; M = 27.4, SD = 7.7) and complete mucosa coverage (preop; M = 15.9, SD = 3.2, postoperative; M = 29.5, SD = 10.6) and the level of impaction (Pell and Gregory classification) of the third molar (3B showing the highest increase in the mean OHIP score). CONCLUSIONS: The OHIP-14 can be considered internally responsive to changes in impacts of oral conditions as a result of surgical third molar removal and is able to differentiate the effect of several clinical variables.