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Table 5 Example participant quotes—identity

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

Theme

Participant quote

Self-image

‘It’s horrible I think what happened to me is horrible, it affects my image of myself, I think my self-image’ (Participant 26, Female, 44, Periodontal disease)

Feeling old

‘I thought “oh gosh I’m going to lose all my teeth”. I’m going to be like, my grandad with false teeth or something. It horrifies me, it’s the association with being old and neglectful and things like that’ (Participant 5, Female, 43, Gingivitis)

Acceptance

‘It’s one of those things, you go “Oh”, and that’s it. You know you can’t do anything about it, as I was saying, when I lost that one. I feel too old to bother now, that’s one of the things. If I was a lot younger, yeah’ (Participant 25, Male, 65, Periodontal disease)

Part of identity

‘Yeah. It is a difficult one, isn’t it? I have to think of it as being who I am because it’s something I’ve got to accept’ (Participant 20, Female, 53, Periodontal disease)

‘Well, I guess so. I mean, you know, I guess your teeth are how you smile a lot so, you know, I’ve got quite decent teeth and it’s had benefits, I guess, because, you know, I know it’s linked to my parents and stuff like that. So, I’m quite pleased that they’re okay. That’s why I’d be worried if they got discoloured or if I had to have teeth out or that kind of stuff. So, I can see the relationship there’ (Participant 15, Male, 35, Gingivitis)