Early childhood caries and oral health-related quality of life of Brazilian children: Does parents' resilience act as moderator?

Abstract

Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common chronic disease in childhood. Measures to reduce the prevalence of ECC cannot be taken without recognizing that oral health is influenced by biopsychosocial factors on individual and community levels. To evaluate the impact of ECC on OHRQoL and moderation effect of parents' resilience. Population-based, cross-sectional study with 497 children (4-6years old) at preschools in Ribeirão das Neves, MG, Brazil. Parents self-completed the Brazilian version of the early childhood oral health impact scale (B-ECOHIS), the Resilience Scale and questionnaires about socioeconomic and oral health behaviour factors. Calibrated dentists conducted examinations for ECC (ICDASepi) and pulp consequences (pufa). Data analysis used multivariate Poisson regression for complex sample (P<.05). Model#1, adjusted for parents' resilience and socioeconomic factors, revealed that preschoolers with pulp involvement had 2.36 (95% CI: 1.60-3.49) and fistula/abscess had 3.57 (95% CI: 2.23-5.72) more prevalence of negative impact on OHRQoL than preschoolers with ECC without pulp consequences. In Model#2, resilience was removed from the analysis and the strength of associations almost did not change (OHRQoL vs pulp involvement RP=2.33;95% CI: 1.58-3.43; OHRQoL vs fistula/abscess RP=3.65;95% CI: 2.22-5.99). Early childhood caries with pulp consequences had negative impact on OHRQoL of preschoolers and families, and it is not moderated by parents' resilience.