Herhangi Bir Nedenle Diş Hekimine Başvuran Seçilmiş Bir Grup 5-6 Yaş Çocuklarda Ağız Sağlığı ile İlişkili Yaşam Kalitesinin Değerlendirilmesi ve Bunun Diş Çürüğü ile Olası İlişkisinin İncelenmesi

Abstract

Oral health-related problems are important public health problems among children. Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is a reflection of general health and well-being. This cross-sectional analitic study aimed to determine the OHRQoL of 5-6-year-old children, admitting to dental health clinics for any reason, and to investigate if the quality of life is related with early childhood caries. Following the approval of the Ethics Committee of Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Non-Interventional Clinical Researches, oral examinations were done for a total of 200 children admitted to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry for any reason and gave parental/individual informed consent for the study. Dental caries were evaluated using dmft/s, ICDAS II and pufa indices. Besides, quality of life was evaluated by using ECOHIS-T (Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale. Of the participants, 51.5% were female and %53.0 were 6-year-old. Of all children 85.5% had ECC, 67.0% had extensive decay according to ICDAS categories and 35.0% had pufa coded teeth and it was learned that 14.0% had dental trauma history. The mean ECOHIS score was 20.79±22.0; and it was found as 23.54±8.12 and 4.55±8.48, for children with and without ECC, respectively; this difference was statistically significantly (independent t test p<0.001). The correlation between the ECC (Early Childhood Caries) status and ECOHIS scores was found to be positive, of moderate size and statistically significant (r=0.510; p<0.001, Spearman correlation). There was a positive, high and statistically significant correlation between ICDAS and ECOHIS scores (r=0.655; p<0.001, Spearman correlation). Univariate logistic regression results showed educational status of the parents, dental visit history of the child, ICDAS categories of the child and ECC status had statistically significant and negative (p<0.001) associations with quality of life. The findings revealed a high quality of life among 5-6-year-old children, whereas ECC existence affected the quality of life negatively. It is recommended to the dentists, particularly to the pediatric dentists, to evaluate the effects of oral health on the quality of life; a thorough phsycological and social screening of children with ECC would be important, besides the routine functional and aesthetic evaluations.