Abdouh, Ismail;
(2020)
The nature and impact of oral disease of systemic sclerosis.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem immune-mediated disorder that by virtue of its many possible orofacial features has the potential to adversely affect oral function, impact on oral health care and lessen the quality of life. This thesis has sought to determine the oral and dental consequences of SSc upon a substantial group of affected individuals in the UK. A retrospective analysis of 138 patients with SSc found that the most frequent extra-oral feature was facial skin fibrosis followed by perioral skin tightening, 37% and 35% respectively. Intra-oral features were common, as 73% of patients had microstomia and 47% had xerostomia and generalised chronic periodontitis. An assessment of the online information regarding the treatment of the oral manifestations of SSc found that there are general scarcity of websites providing relevant content with most sites being of poor quality and difficult to read. A cross-sectional observational questionnaire study of the implications of SSc upon the access to dental care services and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) indicated that SSc has a negative impact on general and OHRQoL with a high level of psychological disability that included pain, anxiety and depression. A detailed study of the psychometric properties of the only specific patient-reported outcome measure Mouth Handicap in Systemic Sclerosis (MHISS) in a large group of patients with SSc found that this instrument had good levels of validity and reliability with respect to patients resident in the UK. The results of this thesis indicate that many patients with SSc may have oral manifestations that can potentially impact adversely upon their oral function, ability to maintain good oral health and lessen OHRQoL. They will not be able to obtain reliable, understandable information from the world wide web concerning oral aspects of SSc – although their OHRQoL can be assessed well using the MHISS.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The nature and impact of oral disease of systemic sclerosis |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Eastman Dental Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10109216 |
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