Lembacher Sophie, Hofer Viktoria, Bekes Katrin
Department of Paediatric Dentistry, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University Vienna, Sensengasse 2a, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
J Clin Med. 2023 Sep 11;12(18):5906. doi: 10.3390/jcm12185906.
Dental pain in children is a global public health burden with psychosocial and economic implications, challenging families and pediatric dentists in daily clinical practice. Previous studies have addressed the exclusive impact of either caries, dental trauma, malocclusion, or socioeconomic status on OHRQoL. Even though such examples can surely cause dental pain in children, so far only little research on the correlation of dental pain as a general symptom of different underlying causes and OHRQoL has been published. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of dental pain on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children between the ages of 0 and 6 years old and subsequently compare the results to a control group free of tooth ache. Children and their adult caregivers were recruited from the Emergency unit of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University Clinic of Dentistry in Vienna. The caregivers completed the German version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS-G). Afterwards, the children were clinically examined. The cause for dental pain, dmf-t index, and plaque accumulation were collected. In total, 259 children with a mean age of 4.2 years (SD ± 1.5 years) were included in the study group. Their mean ECOHIS-G score was 9.0 (SD ± 7.4), while the control group only amounted to a score of 4.9 (SD ± 5.6). The difference between the two groups was statistically significant in both ECOHIS-G subsections, the child impact scale (CIS) and the family impact scale (FIS) as well as the ECOHIS-G sum score ( < 0.05). Dmf-t index and plaque accumulation significantly correlated with CIS and ECOHIS sum score ( ≤ 0.05). The reduction in quality of life was nearly twice as great in the children with dental pain as in the control children. The ECOHIS-G is a valid instrument for measuring the OHRQoL of children with dental pain between the ages of 0 to 6.
儿童牙痛是一个全球性的公共卫生负担，具有心理社会和经济影响，在日常临床实践中给家庭和儿科牙医带来挑战。以往的研究探讨了龋齿、牙外伤、错牙合或社会经济地位对儿童口腔健康相关生活质量（OHRQoL）的单独影响。尽管这些情况肯定会导致儿童牙痛，但迄今为止，关于牙痛作为不同潜在原因的一般症状与OHRQoL之间相关性的研究很少发表。本研究的目的是评估牙痛对0至6岁儿童口腔健康相关生活质量（OHRQoL）的影响，并随后将结果与无牙痛的对照组进行比较。儿童及其成年照料者是从维也纳大学牙科学院儿科牙科急诊室招募的。照料者完成了德文版的幼儿口腔健康影响量表（ECOHIS-G）。之后，对儿童进行临床检查。收集牙痛原因、dmf-t指数和牙菌斑堆积情况。研究组共纳入259名平均年龄为4.2岁（标准差±1.5岁）的儿童。他们的ECOHIS-G平均得分为9.0（标准差±7.4），而对照组的得分仅为4.9（标准差±5.6）。两组在ECOHIS-G的两个子部分，即儿童影响量表（CIS）和家庭影响量表（FIS）以及ECOHIS-G总分上的差异具有统计学意义（<0.05）。Dmf-t指数和牙菌斑堆积与CIS和ECOHIS总分显著相关（≤0.05）。牙痛儿童的生活质量下降幅度几乎是对照儿童的两倍。ECOHIS-G是测量0至6岁牙痛儿童OHRQoL的有效工具。
