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Table 4 Example participant quotes—psychological and emotional impacts

From: Gum health and quality of life—subjective experiences from across the gum health-disease continuum in adults

Theme

Participant quote

Oral hygiene habits

‘It can be a sign that you’re not brushing your teeth properly, or at least that’s what somebody told me, or what I read there. So, then you feel guilty and you start to spend longer on them’ (Participant 12, Female, 39, Gingivitis)

Concerns over more treatment

‘I was concerned. The pain wasn’t nice, and it’s not… It makes it difficult to do other things, but also I was anxious about was I going to have to have some dental treatment that I wouldn’t like?’ (Participant 23, Female, 73, Periodontal disease)

‘And the dentist, yeah, I think she would probably suggest measures to deal with tooth loss that would be costly – costly and invasive’ (Participant 24, Female, 63, Periodontal disease)

Concern for future health

‘So, I don’t want that to happen too early. I really want to live a better quality of life in terms of my dental health. So, I thought I need to get it controlled. I know I cannot reverse what has happened’ (Participant 26, Female, 44, Periodontal disease)

‘I just worry that things may get worse in 10 years’ time or something…so I’m 50 now, what’s going to happen when I’m in my 60s? Am I going to have more problems? More visits to the dentist and this kind of thing’ (Participant 20, Female, 53, Periodontal disease)

Frustration and irritation

‘Not annoyed with myself, particularly given that it ended up not being a traumatic experience; just a bit frustrated that I had let it get to this point’ (Participant 14, Female, 27, Gingivitis)

‘And it’s irritating, and when I do clean it with the brush the dentist has told me to I always make it bleed, and then it flares up’ (Participant 18, Female, 44, Periodontal disease)

Improving state of gums

‘Yeah, they can’t cure it, and it’s not going to stop it, just slow it down. And I think there is all just account to keep my teeth. That’s what I’d led to believe anyway by the dentist. We’ve done these various deep cleans and I’ve kept on brushing. I think that’s about as much, well, that’s what they tell me, as much as they can do’ (Participant 21, Male, 53, Periodontal disease)

Affecting mood

‘What did I do? Yeah, I sort of remember. I remember ploughing on at work for a while but being miserable with it. It was a good month. It was over a month’ (Participant 8, Male, 44, Gingivitis)

Embarrassment

‘Knowing that it means that there’s something wrong, it’s a bit of an embarrassing symptom because it’s not supposed to be there. I think with something like this, where it’s very much considered, “This wouldn’t happen to you if you had perfect oral hygiene,” you’re a bit like, “Well, I don’t want someone to know, then, do I, if this is happening, because it’s obviously something I’m doing wrong?”’ (Participant 14, Female, 27, Gingivitis)