Oral Impacts on Daily Performances of Children 12 and 15-Year-Old in Can Tho City

Abstract

The oral discomforts are still popular and impact on daily activities, reduce quality of life of the patients. Aim The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, intensity, and extent of the impacts, caused by oral problems on 12- and 15-year-old children in Can Tho city. Materials and methods 407 children at 12 and 402 children at 15 from 10 out of 62 secondary schools in 9 urban and suburban districts in Can Tho city were selected into the study by probability proportional to size sample selection method. Vietnamese child version of the Oral Impact of Daily Performances (Child-OIDP) was employed to evaluate oral impacts on 8 daily activities. Results and discussion The prevalence of oral impacts was 87% of children at 12 and 78.6% of those at 15. The most frequently impacted among daily performances was eating (64.6% 12-year-old pupils, 53% those at 15), then next was cleaning mouth, emotion, and smiling. Among children with impacts, 36.4 and 15.2% children (at 12 and 15 respectively) reported impacts on more than five daily activities and with severe to very severe intensity relatively high (16.7 and 11% sequentially). Conclusion Oral impacts on daily performances were very common, rather wide but not severe among children at 12 and 15 years old in Can Tho province. Affects on the former were more than on latter, in urban districts were higher than suburban ones significantly. The common reasons were tooth decay, toothache, oral ulcer, swollen gums and sensitive tooth.