OHRQoL of 12 and 15-year-old Thais: findings from national survey

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of oral impacts on daily life, the characteristics of the impacts, and the relationship between certain dental conditions and impacts, in a nationally representative 12 and 15-year-old Thai populations. Methods: A cross-sectional study on a representative sample in Sixth Thailand National Oral Health Survey. Sample included half the children aged 12 and 15-year-old selected in Bangkok and all participants in 8 of 16 provinces included in national oral health survey. Children were individually interviewed using the Child-OIDP (12-year-old) and OIDP indices (15-year-old), and two questions for overall subjective assessments. Results: 1,066 12-year-olds and 815 15-year-olds were interviewed. 85.2% of 12-year-olds reported experiencing oral impacts on their daily life during the past three months. Child-OIDP scores ranged from 0-68.0 (mean=7.83, sd=7.8). Eating was most commonly affected performance (64.4%), followed by cleaning teeth (51.7%) and maintaining emotional state (49.1%). For 15-year-olds, 83.3% had oral impacts during the past six months. OIDP scores ranged from 0-39.5 (mean=5.47, sd=6.0). The three most commonly affected performances were eating (64.0%), cleaning teeth (55.3%) and maintaining emotional state (53.1%). Toothache and oral ulcers were the two most important perceived causes of oral impacts in 12-year-olds. Impacts from toothache were most prevalent (39.2%) and had a condition-specific (CS) Child-OIDP score of 7.0 while oral ulcers affected 24.7% of children; mean CS-score of 8.0. For 15-year-olds, oral ulcers ranked first as a cause of impacts in terms of both prevalence (36.2%) and CS-score (6.0), followed by toothache (prevalence 33.9% and CS-score 5.0). For both age groups problems with gums were of less concern. Conclusions: Oral impacts were common but not severe in Thai children and adolescents. Eating was the most affected daily performances in both age groups. Toothache and oral ulcers were the most prevalent perceived causes of oral impacts in both age groups.