The relationship between oral health education and quality of life in adolescents

Background There is no study on the association between oral health education and oral health quality of life (OHQoL). Aim To assess the relationship between oral health education activities integrated into primary care services and OHQoL in adolescents. Design A retrospective observational survey was conducted on 300 randomly selected 12-14years-of-age adolescents living in two publicly funded health service administrative areas in Manaus, Brazil. Between 2006 and 2008, dental treatment and oral health education were offered in one area (DT/OHE group), whereas in the other area, only dental treatment was provided (DT group). Collected data included socio-demographic characteristics, health services use, health-related behaviours, dental pain, dental caries and Child-OIDP. Independent variables were compared between groups by Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests. The association between one or more OIDP (Child-OIDP1) and DT group tested using multivariate logistic regression. Results Caries, use of dental services and health-related behaviours did not differ between groups (0.05). Child-OIDP1 was higher in DT group (90.0%) compared with DT/OHE group (79.3%) (P=0.01). Child-OIDP1 was independently associated with DT group [OR=4.4 (1.1; 17.0)]. Conclusions Adolescents living in an area where OHE and DT were provided had better OHRQoL than those living in an area where only DT was provided.