Oral health related quality of life in a group of Egyptian preschool children with early childhood caries: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a common dental condition that could affect preschool children 's functional and emotional well-being worldwide. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of ECC on preschool Egyptian children's Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) and their parents.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

This observational cross-sectional study included 260 preschool children aged 3 to 5 years who attended the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic at Ain Shams University. A resident dentist performed clinical examinations to measure the dmft index (decayed, missing, and filled teeth) using dental examination tools following the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for diagnosing dental caries. Caries-free children were also included to enable direct comparison and estimate the impact of ECC severity on quality of life. The Arabic version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (A-ECOHIS) was used in this study to evaluate their OHRQoL. Data from the questionnaire were tabulated, summarized, and statistically analysed using Shapiro-Wilk, Mann-Whitney U and, the Kruskal-Wallis tests. Correlations assessments were made using Spearman's rank correlation.

RESULTS

Out of 260 children who participated in the study, 75.8% had ECC, of whom 31% had ECC and 69% had severe ECC (S-ECC). The mean ECOHIS score was 19.52 ± 12.46. Children with S-ECC had a significantly higher mean ECOHIS score (25.87 ± 10.05) than children without caries (4.94 ± 6.08) and those with ECC (20.35 ± 8.96) (p < 0.0001). Regression analysis verified that worse OHRQoL was significantly associated with the presence of ECC and rising dmft scores. Higher ECOHIS scores were also associated with maternal employment and parental age < 35 years.

CONCLUSIONS

Lower OHRQoL was significantly associated with the high prevalence of ECC and severe ECC (S-ECC), especially in domains related to pain, eating difficulties, and psychological discomfort. Higher dmft scores, the presence of ECC, younger parental age, and employment were also associated with worse OHRQoL scores. These results emphasize the importance of early preventive dental care, particularly for preschool children in resource-limited settings.