Premium
Association between oral conditions and functional limitations in childhood
Author(s) -
Clementino M. A.,
PintoSarmento T. C. A.,
Costa E. M.,
Martins C. C.,
GranvilleGarcia A. F.,
Paiva S. M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of oral rehabilitation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2842
pISSN - 0305-182X
DOI - 10.1111/joor.12273
Subject(s) - toothache , poisson regression , medicine , logistic regression , ordered logit , oral health , ordinal regression , malocclusion , quality of life (healthcare) , clinical psychology , dentistry , environmental health , population , statistics , mathematics , nursing , machine learning , computer science
Summary The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of oral conditions on functional limitations among preschoolers. A preschool‐based, cross‐sectional study was carried out with 843 preschoolers in Campina Grande, Brazil. Parents/caregivers answered a questionnaire addressing socio‐demographic characteristics and perceptions regarding the general/oral health of their children as well as the Brazilian version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale. The nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Mann–Whitney test (α = 5%) was used to compare mean children's quality‐of‐life scores for each independent variable. Poisson regression analysis was used to test associations between the independent and dependent variables (difficulties eating, drinking and speaking) (α = 5%). The multivariate regression model involved a hierarchical approach with four levels (distal to proximal determinants): (i) socio‐demographic aspects; (ii) health perceptions; (iii) oral conditions; and (iv) pain conditions. The prevalence of negative impact on function was 24·7% for eating/drinking and 8·0% for speaking. Significant associations were found between toothache and negative impact on eating/drinking ( PR = 5·38; 95% CI : 3·20–9·02) as well as between high severity dental caries and negative impact on speaking ( PR = 14·91; 95% CI : 1·98–112·32). Dental caries, traumatic dental injury and malocclusion were not significantly associated with a negative impact on eating or drinking. However, toothache was an indicator of negative impact on eating/drinking and dental caries severity was an indicator of negative impact on speaking.