(0235) Oral Health Perception and Oral Health Outcomes in Chicago’s Unhoused Population

Introduction: Patients experiencing homelessness face intersecting physical, mental, and social burdens that significantly limit their access to proper health care, including oral health. This project aims to investigate the impact of oral health on the quality of life of unhoused patients in Chicago.

Methods: Data was collected from 50 unhoused patients attending the Center for the Underserved at Rush ENT (CURE) clinic. For comparison, 40 patients from Rush University Sinus Clinic were surveyed. Patient data was collected using a 28-item survey measuring social demographics, past medical history, employment/insurance status, substance use, and oral health-related quality of life using the Oral Health Impact Profile survey (OHIP-14). Statistical analysis was performed using Python. Continuous variables were analyzed using t-tests and ANOVA, while discrete variables were analyzed using chi square tests.

Results: Unhoused residents from CURE clinic were less likely to have access to healthy food (49%), health insurance (35%), and employment (65%) than patients from the Rush Sinus Clinic (all p values < 0.001). Additionally, these same patients were more likely to smoke cigarettes (58%) and use illicit substances (34.1%) (all p values < 0.001) than Rush Sinus patients. CURE patients reported more problems with their mouth/teeth than Rush Sinus patients on 10 of the 14 OHIP-14 items. Of note, CURE patients affirmed occupational challenges (22% vs 5.2%, p < 0.001), dissatisfaction with their diet (33.3% vs 7.7%, p < 0.001) and with their overall quality of life (32% vs 5.2%, p < 0.001) due to concerns over their oral health.

Conclusions: Concerns over oral health significantly impact the quality of life of homeless shelter residents in Chicago. In addition, unhoused patients were found to have significantly more socio-behavioral risk factors for poor oral health, including cigarette smoking, illicit substance use, and lack of access to healthy food. Given these findings, investigation into improving access to oral health education and preventative care could improve overall health and quality of life in this at-risk population.