Co Relation between PUFA Index and Oral Health Related Quality of Life of a Rural Population in India: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: A new measuring system called PUFA index had been identified to quantify the consequences of untreated dental caries. The co relation between PUFA index and oral health related quality of life has not been documented so far in India and thereby the need for this study D esign: Cross-sectional observational study. Materials and Methods: Sample size of 212 subjects, who are the residents of a town in Rangareddy district were included to be a part of this study. The subjects were interviewed for the OHIP score and the clinical examination done to record the PUFA scores. Results: The main objective of this study was to find out if there was any correlation between the OHIP scores and the study subjects and using the Pearson' s co relation coefficient, there was a significant correlation between the OHIP and the PUFA scores.(Pearson' s correlation= 0.31) Conclusion: The mean OHIP and PUFA scores of the study subjects were 2.21 and 0.40 respectively. There is a positive correlation between the OHIP score and the PUFA score among the study population i. e. with the PUFA scores increasing, it has a detrimental effect on the oral health related quality of life of the individual.