Impact of Dental Trauma on Quality of Life of Students

Objectives: To study the impact of dental trauma on the oral health-related quality of life among Brazilian students.
Methods: Cross-sectional study involving a representative sample of students (n = 389) in a city in southern Brazil was carried out. Data on dental trauma were collected through oral examinations using the O’Brien’s criteria (1993) restricted to fractures and avulsions. The Brazilian version of the Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (OIDP) was used to collect data on the impact of oral health-related quality of life. The instrument consisted of eight dimensions: eating, speaking, teeth cleaning, sleeping, maintaining emotional state, smiling, performing daily activities, and social contact. The Chi-square test was used for bivariate analysis with significance levels set at p <0.05. Prevalence ratios (PR) and confidence intervals (95%) were estimated using log-linear Poisson regression with a robust estimator.
Results: The prevalence of dental trauma was 7.2%, and it was associated with the following dimensions: sleeping [(PR = 2.64 (95% CI, 1.17-5.92)] (p = 0.019); performing daily activities [(PR = 3.61 (95% CI, 1.37-9.53)] (p = 0.009), and speaking [(PR = 3.81 (95% CI, 1.47-9.86)] (p = 0.006) after adjusting for gender and age. No statistically significant associations were observed in the other studied dimensions.
Conclusions: The prevalence of dental trauma found among this population was low, but significantly associated with oral health-related quality of life.