Impact of Untreated Caries and Anxiety on Quality of Life

Objectives: This cross – sectional study aims to evaluate the relationship of clinical consequences of untreated dental caries with socio-demographic factors, dental anxiety and oral health quality of life ( OHRQoL) among 8–12-year-old Turkish children.
Methods: Study sample consisted of children attending to the Clinic of Pedodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul University. Data was collected by an oral examination and self-administered questionnaires including socio-demographic variables, self- rated oral health, the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS) and the Child-Oral Impact on Daily Performances (Child-OIDP). Analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 21. Descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney U-test and Spearman correlation test, were used for data analyses.
Results: A total of 200 children aged 8-12 years (98 females; mean age 9,1yr, SD= 0,81) participated in this study. Mean (SD) dmf(t)/DMF(T),and pufa(t)/PUFA(T) scores were 4.96 (2.68), 1.60 (1.42), 0.44 (1.06), 0.11 (0.48), respectively. Positive correlations were found between pufa(t) and dmf(t) ( r=0,31; p<0.001) and between PUFA(T) and DMF(T) scores (r:0,32; p<0.001). Children's self-ratings of oral health (r=0.25:p<0.01) and anxiety (r=0.24:p<0.01) positively correlated with their OHRQoL. The number of decayed teeth in the primary dentition associated with higher scores on the “eating” performance of Child-OIDP (r=0.19;p<0.01). Positive correlations were found between the “a “component of pufa(t) scores and the “cleaning teeth” performance of Child-OIDP (r=0.18;p<0.01) as well as between the “A” component of the PUFA(T) scores and the “speaking” performance of Child-OIDP (r=0.18;p<0.01).
Conclusions: The presence of untreated dental caries using the pufa(t)/PUFA(T) index among Turkish children was associated with worse Child-OIDP performance scores on eating, cleaning, and speaking and dental anxiety. The PUFA(T)/pufa(t) index may be used in the evaluation of the clinical consequences of the untreated dental caries and planning the treatment programs.