Oral health and quality of life in children: A cross-sectional study

The relationship of oral health (OH) with the quality of life (QL) is multidimensional; the extent to which oral disorders disrupt an individual''s normal function may affect health-related QL, particularly among children. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between clinical OH variables, psychological, social, and demographic factors with regard to OH-related QL (OHRQL) in the children of Isfahan province, Iran. Data relevant to the characteristics, psychological, dental, and demographic factors of 336 children aged 11-15 were assessed. These characteristics included sociodemographic data, sense of coherence (SOC), self-esteem, and children''s health locus of control (HLC). The clinical variables that were implicated to be effective on the QL were assessed via an oral examination. The parameters assessed included caries, periodontal disease, malocclusion, and traumatic dental injuries. Finally, the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software and P-value was set at 0.05. The results indicate that oral disease, the extent of treatment-need, self-reported symptoms, and degree of dysfunction were influential in QL. Bivariate (Spearman and Pearson) analysis showed that there was a relationship between decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) and QL score (r = 0.4, P-value = 0.03) and gender and total self-esteem (r = 0.8, P-value = 0.009). Self-esteem and index of orthodontic treatment need (IOTN) (P-value = 0.01), education level of the parents (P-value = 0.03), and overall health (P-value = 0.001) significantly influenced OHRQL. The findings of our study indicate that oral disease, the extent of treatment-need, self-reported symptoms, and degree of dysfunction were influential in the QL.