Dental caries severity and oral health-related quality-of-life in Brazilian preschool children

The impact of dental caries on oral health-related quality-of-life (OHRQoL) may be influenced by disease severity. This study evaluated the impact of caries severity on OHRQoL in preschool children. A school-based, cross-sectional study was conducted with 205 children (aged 2-5 years) in Southern Brazil. Parents answered the Brazilian version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (B-ECOHIS) and provided sociodemographic information. The Caries Assessment Spectrum and Treatment criteria were used to evaluate caries severity, and Poisson regression with robust variance estimation conducted to determine the rate ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the mean OHRQoL scores according to severity level. Most children had at least one tooth in the morbidity (37%) or pre-morbidity (35%) stages, and the prevalence of impacts on OHRQoL was 40%. Caries severity was associated with the impact scores: after adjustments, the mean B-ECOHIS scores were 6.31 (95% CI: 4.24-9.38) higher for children in the morbidity stage, and 10.84 (95% CI: 6.51-18.05) higher in the severe morbidity stage, than for healthy children [RR = 10.84 (95% CI: 6.51-18.05)]. Children with carious lesions into dentine or with pulpally-involved or abscessed teeth had poorer OHRQoL than children without such lesions.