The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) questionnaire measures oral health-related quality of life and is widely used for assessing subjective oral health status. The objective of the present study was to describe the translation and validation of the shortened 14-item OHIP for native Persian (Farsi) speakers living in Iran. The authors translated the OHIP-14 into Persian (OHIP-14-P), followed by back-translation into English, after which the Persian version was revised and modified. They administered the questionnaire to native Persian-speaking clients at a university-based dental clinic in Tehran, Iran (n = 240, 123 females and 117 males, mean age 39, range 18 to 76). They examined the convergent validity and discriminative validity of OHIP by analysing their association with various self-reported health outcomes. They evaluated the test–retest reliability by administering the instrument to 37 patients a second time. They analysed the internal consistency and reliability using a intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Cronbach's reliability coefficient, respectively. The associations between scores of OHIP-14-P and its subscales with self-reported general (r(s) [Spearman's rank correlation coefficient] range 0.38 to 0.52) and oral health (r(s) range 0.25 to 0.45) confirmed convergent validity. Discriminative validity was confirmed through the significant relationship between OHIP-14-P scores with both the experience of pain and satisfaction with oral health (P < 0.001). The instrument's test–retest reliability (ICCs: 0.75 to 0.88) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α: 0.45 to 0.73 and Cronbach's α if subscale deleted: 0.88 to 0.85) were satisfactory. The Persian version of OHIP-14 was found to be a valid and reliable measure, and appropriate to be used among native Persian speakers visiting a dental clinic.