Difference and relation between adolescents' and their parents or caregivers' reported oral health-related quality of life related to orthodontic treatment: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundParents/caregivers play an important role in deciding whether their children will undergo orthodontic treatment or not. Their perceptions also have an influence on other choices involving orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference and correlation between the ratings given by children and their parents or caregivers on their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before, during and after orthodontic treatment.MethodsIn this ongoing observational prospective cohort study, 498 children aged 11 to 16years-old and one of their parents/caregivers completed questionnaires before (T0), 1year after start (T1) and 1month after the end of orthodontic treatment (T2). OHRQoL was scored by using the Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ(11-14)) and the Parental-Caregiver Perception questionnaire (P-CPQ). The self-perception of oral aesthetics was evaluated with the Oral Aesthetic Subjective Impact Scale (OASIS) in addition to the aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). Spearman correlations, Mann-Whitney U-tests and linear models were used to analyze the longitudinal data.ResultsAt T0, the ratings of parents/caregivers were significantly lower for the total CPQ as well as for the subdomains of oral symptoms, functional limitations and emotional well-being. Parents/caregivers also scored significantly lower at T2 for the total CPQ and the subdomain of oral symptoms. The relations between the scores of children and their parents/caregivers were significant at all three time points, as were the changes in scores, but all of them were at most moderate in size. Parents/caregivers scored significantly lower for OASIS than their children at all time points and only at baseline a significant, weak correlation was found.ConclusionThe reports of parents/caregivers should be seen as important complementary information in OHRQoL research.