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Aim: To assess whether oral health problems affect disease-specific quality of life (QoL) of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, and vice versa, whether IBD affects oral-health-related QoL.

Materials and Methods: Individuals reporting IBD and matched controls were surveyed on general anamnestic information, oral-health-related questions and the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)-5. IBD patients were additionally surveyed on years since diagnosis, disease activity and severity as well as health-related QoL (Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, sIBDQ). OHIP-5 and sIBDQ were defined as primary outcome parameters, and several predictors and confounders were used in adjusted univariable and multivariable regression analyses.

Results: Answers from 1108 IBD patients and 3429 controls were analysed. Compared with controls, IBD patients reported significantly more frequently an oral impact on daily life and worse oral-health-related QoL, with Crohn's disease (CD) patients being more severely affected than ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. The diagnosis of UC and CD, having <20 teeth, severe periodontitis and stressful daily-life experience were associated with a higher prevalence of poor oral-health-related QoL. Among IBD patients, an impaired IBD-specific, health-related QoL was significantly associated with the diagnosis of CD and depression, IBD activity and severity, having <20 teeth, presence of oral lesions and stressful daily-life experience, while a longer time since diagnosis was significantly associated with an improved IBD-specific, health-related QoL.

Conclusions: The results of the present study indicate, for the first time, that oral health problems are associated with an impairment of IBD-specific health-related QoL, and vice versa, IBD is associated with an impaired oral health-related QoL. This emphasizes the potential advantages of including dental professionals in the multi-disciplinary treatment teams of IBD patients.