Dental pain, parental SARS-CoV-2 fear and distress on quality of life of 2 to 6 year-old children during COVID-19.

Abstract

BackgroundCoronavirus disease (COVID‐19) has crippled life, families and oral healthcare delivery in India due to nationwide lockdown.AimThrough cross‐sectional design, we investigated the impact of child's dental pain, caregiver's fear of SARS‐CoV‐2 and parental distress on oral health–related quality of life (OHRQOL) of preschoolers during the nationwide COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown.DesignPreschool children self‐reported their pain using Pieces of Hurt scale; caregiver SARS‐CoV‐2 fear was assessed using Fear of COVID‐19 scale and parental distress evaluated using 4‐item scale. Child's oral health was assessed using the dmft index and OHRQOL evaluated using early childhood oral health impact scale. Bivariate, multivariate regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors; statistical significance was set at 5%.ResultsSample mean age was 4.58 years, and about 69% were boys. Children reporting higher pain scores (OR = 1.9) due to decayed teeth and having dmft > 5 (OR = 4.25), followed by greater parental distress (OR = 4.13) and fear of SARS‐CoV‐2 (OR = 3.84), were significantly associated with poor OHRQOL during the COVID‐19 pandemic.ConclusionsGreater parental distress and fear of COVID‐19 among caregivers, higher self‐perceived dental pain among children and caries experience are associated with poor OHRQOL of preschool children during the COVID‐19 pandemic.