Objectives: To assess the prevalence of oral impacts in a sample of Primary One schoolchildren in the West of Scotland, using an Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) questionnaire
Methods: Schools were selected from a list of 52 produced for NDIP, these were categorised as affluent, medium and deprived using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). 18 schools were selected in the first instance and this was increased to 30 to enable attainment of the minimum sample size: n = 300 parents and their 5-year-old child (n = 600).
Results: 1125 parents in all 3 SES groups were contacted and 416 gave positive consent, a response rate (rr.) of 37%. We obtained completed questionnaires for 326 pairs of parents and children (rr. 78%). Response rates for SES groups were: Affluent 41% positive consent, 78% completed pairs; Medium 39% positive consent, 83% completed pairs; Deprived 32% positive consent, 78% completed pairs. Children's questionnaires were linked to their NDIP inspection records giving 296 matched records (71%). 49% of children reported oral impacts on the QoL questionnaire and 33% of parents reported oral impacts on their QoL questionnaire.
Conclusions: Almost half of the 5-year-olds reported impacts which affected their QoL, a third of parents felt that their children's oral health has had an impact on their QoL. The data collection phase indicated that significant oversampling is necessary in research of this type and also showed there were no major differences in the response rates between parents in the 3 SES groups.