Oral Health Impact among Rural-dwelling Indigenous Adults in South Australia.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to describe the impact of oral health conditions among a convenience sample of Indigenous Australian adults and compare findings with nationally representative data.

METHODS: Data were obtained from the Indigenous Oral Health Literacy Project (IOHLP) based in South Australia. Nationally representative data were obtained from the National Survey of Adult Oral Health (NSAOH). The impact of oral disease was measured using the shortened form of the oral health impact profile, OHIP-14. All data were standardised by age group and sex utilising Census data.

RESULTS: For each OHIP-14 measure the impact was greater for IOHLP participants. There was considerable variation in the degree of difference between IOHLP and NSAOH participants for individual OHIP-14 items.

CONCLUSION: High levels of effects of oral health conditions were reported by rural-dwelling Indigenous adults. This may exacerbate the health and social disadvantage experienced by this marginalised group.