Open AccessDental caries remains as the main oral condition with the greatest impact on children’s quality of life
Author(s) -
Maria Aparecida Martins,
Fernanda Sardenberg,
Cristiane Baccin Bendo,
Mauro Henrique Nogueira Guimarães de Abreu,
Míriam Pimenta Vale,
Saul Martins Paiva,
Isabela Almeida Pordeus
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0185365
Subject(s) - medicine , malocclusion , dentistry , dental trauma , quality of life (healthcare) , logistic regression , statistical significance , population , orthodontics , environmental health , nursing
Purpose The objective of this study was to assess the negative impact of dental caries on the OHRQoL of 8- to 10-year-old Brazilian children. Methods This population-based case-control study involved 546 children (8–10 years old), 182 cases with a high negative impact on OHRQoL and 364 controls with a low negative impact on OHRQoL. Children’s OHRQOL was measured using the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ 8-10 ). Cases and controls (1x2 ratio) were individually matched by school and gender. Dental caries experience, malocclusion, and traumatic dental injuries were used as independent variables. Dental examinations were carried out at school during daytime hours by two calibrated examiners (Kappa = 0.93-interexaminer and 0.95- intraexaminer). The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, conditional bivariate and multiple logistic regression, with the significance level set at 5%. Results There was no significant difference in traumatic dental injuries and malocclusion between the case and control groups (p>0.05). Children with DMFT/dmft ≥3 had a 2.06-fold (95%CI = 1.28–3.31, p = 0.003) greater chance of experiencing a high negative impact on OHRQoL than those with DMFT/dmft = 0 Conclusion Children with high dental caries experience are more likely to present a high negative impact on OHRQoL than those with no dental caries experience.