Pediatric patients’ reasons for visiting dentists in all WHO regions

• Main Authors: Katrin Bekes, Mike T. John, Ksenija Rener-Sitar, Mohammad H. Al-Harthy, Ambra Michelotti, Daniel R. Reissmann, Julijana Nikolovska, Sahityaveera Sanivarapu, Folake B. Lawal, Thomas List, Sanja Peršić Kiršić, Ljiljana Strajnić, Rodrigo Casassus, Kazuyoshi Baba, Martin Schimmel, Ama Amuasi, Ruwan D. Jayasinghe, Sanela Strujić-Porović, Christopher C. Peck, Han Xie, Karina Haugaard Bendixen, Miguel Angel Simancas-Pallares, Eka Perez-Franco, Mohammad Mehdi Naghibi Sistani, Patricia Valerio, Natalia Letunova, Nazik Nurelhuda, David W. Bartlett, Ikeoluwa A. Oluwafemi, Saloua Dghoughi, Joao N. A. R. Ferreira, Pathamas Chantaracherd, Stella Sekulić
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2021-06-01
• Series: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
• Subjects: Oral health; Oral health-related quality of life; Surveys and questionnaires; Dentistry; Child; WHO
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-021-01801-0

Abstract Background Oral Function, Orofacial Pain, Orofacial Appearance, and Psychosocial Impact are the four oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) dimensions (4D) or areas in which oral disorders impact pediatric patients. Using their dentists' assessment, the study aimed to evaluate whether pediatric dental patients' oral health concerns fit into the 4D of the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) construct. Methods Dentists who treat children from 32 countries and all WHO regions were selected from a web-based survey of 1580 international dentists. Dentists were asked if their pediatric patients with current or future oral health concerns fit into the 4D of the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) construct. Proportions of all pediatric patients’ oral health problems and prevention needs were computed. Findings Data from 101 dentists treating children only and 523 dentists treating children and adults were included. For 90% of pediatric patients, their current oral health problems fit well in the four OHRQoL dimensions. For 91% of oral health problems they intended to prevent in the future were related to these dimensions as well. Both numbers increased to at least 96% when experts analyzed dentists´ explanations of why some oral health problems would not fit these four categories. Conclusions The study revealed the four fundamental components of dental patients, i.e., the four OHRQoL dimensions (Oral Function, Orofacial Pain, Orofacial Appearance, and Psychosocial Impact) are also applicable for pediatric patients, regardless of whether they have current or future oral health concerns, and should be considered when measuring OHRQoL in the pediatric dental patient population.