Relationship between Children's Oral Health Habits and OHRQoL

Objectives: To investigate any association between children’s oral health behaviors and their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).
Methods: The study sample was 377 children, aged 12-14 years, attending randomly selected four public schools in the Kuwait Capital Region. Participants completed an oral health behavior and OHRQoL questionnaires. Linear regression analyses examined children’s oral health habits as predictors of their OHRQoL
Results: Nearly half the children had experienced an oral symptom (49.8%), and two-fifths experienced a functional limitation (42.6%). More than one-third of children (33.5%) had experienced emotional symptoms, and only 26.4% experienced a negative social experience. After adjusting for gender and oral health behaviors, the last dental visit and the frequency of brushing were the only significant predictors of oral symptoms while the last dental visit and the frequency of sugar intake were the predictors of functional limitations. While last dental visit, brushing, flossing, and the frequency of sugar intake were the predictors of emotional symptoms (p<0.05), only the last dental visit and the frequency of sugar intake were significant predictors of social symptoms (p<0.05). Last dental visit and the frequency of brushing were the only predictors of the overall OHRQoL (p<0.05).
Conclusions: The most recent dental visit, brushing, and sugar intake were the primary oral health behaviors associated with different OHRQoL components. Promoting these behaviors could have a positive impact on children’s quality of life.