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The role of illness beliefs and coping in the adjustment to dentine hypersensitivity
Author(s) -
Porritt Jenny M.,
Sufi Farzana,
Barlow Ashley,
Baker Sarah R.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of clinical periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.456
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1600-051X
pISSN - 0303-6979
DOI - 10.1111/jcpe.12177
Subject(s) - coping (psychology) , dentine hypersensitivity , anxiety , medicine , clinical psychology , disease , psychology , psychiatry , dentistry , pathology
Aim Dentine hypersensitivity is a common oral health problem, however, there has been little research on how people cope with this condition. This study aimed to quantify the effects of illness beliefs and coping strategies on the health outcomes of individuals with dentine hypersensitivity. Materials and methods Participants were purposively sampled from students and staff in one large UK University and 101 self‐diagnosed dentine hypersensitivity sufferers participated in the longitudinal study. Participants were required to complete questionnaires which assessed health anxiety, specific illness beliefs (control, consequences, illness coherence, timeline perspectives and emotional representations), coping strategies (passive and active coping) and oral health‐related and health‐related quality of life ( OHRQ oL and HRQ oL) at baseline and 1 month follow‐up. Results Over half of the participants ( N = 56) experienced sensations in their teeth on a daily basis and the majority had experienced dentine hypersensitivity for at least 1 year ( N = 87). Structural equation modelling indicated that predictors of OHRQ oL and HRQ oL impacts at follow‐up were frequency of sensations, low levels of illness coherence, negative emotional representations, greater health anxiety and use of passive coping strategies at baseline. Conclusions Illness beliefs and coping strategies predict oral and health‐related quality of life outcomes in people with dentine hypersensitivity.