Developmental enamel defects and their impact on child oral health-related quality of life

• Main Authors: Fabiana Vargas-Ferreira, Thiago Machado Ardenghi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Pesquisa Odontológica 2011-12-01
• Series: Brazilian Oral Research
• Subjects: Tooth Abnormalities; Dentition, Permanent; Dental Enamel Hypoplasia; Quality of Life
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1806-83242011000600010

This cross-sectional study assessed the impact of Developmental Enamel Defects (DED) on Child Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (COHRQoL). A sample of 944 11- to 14-year-old Brazilian schoolchildren was examined for the prevalence and severity of DED. The children completed the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14), and socioeconomic status was also collected using a questionnaire. Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between DED and overall and domain-specific CPQ11-14 scores. The prevalence of DED was 19.7%. In general, children with DED did not indicate any decrease in self-perception. However, this condition was associated with an impact on the functional limitation domain. The presence of DED may cause negative impacts on a child's perception of oral health and on their daily performance.