title: Untreated cavitated dentine lesions: impact on children's quality of life.
abstract: The aim of the present investigation was to assess the impact of dental caries prevalence and the consequences of untreated cavitated dentine lesions on quality of life of 6- and 7-year-old Brazilian children. A total of 826 schoolchildren were assessed using ICDAS and pufa (to score consequences of dental caries on soft tissues) indices. History of extraction and toothache was recorded. Oral health-related quality of life was assessed using the Brazilian version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (B-ECOHIS). A multiple logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between the prevalence of dentine carious lesions, pufa, history of extraction and toothache with the B-ECOHIS scores. A total of 587 questionnaires were analyzed. The prevalence of cavitated dentine lesions and pufa was 74.8 and 26.2%, respectively. Some 21.8% of children reported toothache and 9.2% had had at least one tooth extraction. The chance (OR) for children with cavitated dentine lesions, pufa ≥1, history of extraction and toothache of having higher B-ECOHIS scores than those not affected was 1.90 (95% CI: 1.18-3.06), 6.26 (95% CI: 3.63-10.83), 6.87 (95% CI: 2.75-17.16) and 3.68 (95% CI: 2.12-6.39), respectively. Children's quality of life was negatively influenced by untreated cavitated dentine lesions and their consequences.
authors.affiliation: Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Brasília, Asa Norte, Brazil. sorayaodt@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Bronkhorst
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Frencken
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003751:Dental Fistula / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003789:Dental Pulp Exposure / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003804:Dentin / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010482:Periapical Abscess / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000523:psychology; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000473:pathology; D014098:Toothache / Q000523:psychology