Assessment of Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Using the Oral Impact on Daily Performance (OIDP) Instrument Among Secondary School Teachers of Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Oral health has an impact on a person's general health, well-being, and quality of life. Due to their expertise and interactions with people, school staff members can actively contribute to the promotion of children's health if provided with the proper training. Methodology A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the "oral health-related quality of life" using the Oral Impact on Daily Performance (OIDP) instrument among the secondary school teachers of Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh. The study included a sample of 400 government secondary school teachers and 400 private secondary school teachers. The independent sample t-test was performed to assess the relationship between the mean of OIDP dimensions and the prevalence of dental caries. Any p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 20.0 software package (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results In the present study, most of the participants (174 (43.5%) government teachers and 197 (49.2%) private teachers) were in the age group of 41-50 years. According to the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) index, the mean decayed teeth present for government and private school teachers were 0.45 +/- 0.503 and 0.41 +/- 0.493, respectively, and the mean DMF scores for government and private teachers were 1.27 +/- 0.736 and 1.03 +/- 0.757, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the DMFT scores and the mean scores for the dimensions of the OIDP among both government and private secondary school teachers. Conclusion The poor dental health status of teachers' has a bad impact on everyday performance and academic work. The findings of the study highlight the need for oral health education and good oral health maintenance among school teachers since they are the ones who can easily influence the behavior of the children.