Avaliação do impacto da má-oclusão na qualidade de vida de crianças pré-escolares

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of malocclusion on Oral HealthRelated Quality of Life (OHRQoL) in a sample of Brazilian preschool children and their families. First of all a specific instrument was develped for the evaluation and had its psychometric skills assessed, as well as passed through the validation process in a non-probabilistic sample. The instrument was valid and showed satisfactory psychometric results. However, in order for the results to be confirmed and an assessed validity of more criteria, a new study was performed on a representative sample of the same population. Thus, a cross-sectional study was carried out involving 721 children 3-5 years of age. A clinical exam was performed to evaluate the malocclusions according to criteria proposed by Foster and Hamilton. This examination was conducted by a calibrated dentist. Parents/caregivers answered the Malocclusion Impact Scale for Early Childhood (MIS-EC) and the questionnaire on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Data analysis involves descriptive statistics, chi-square, Mann-Whitney and hierarchically adjusted Poisson regression. The results showed that the prevalence of malocclusion was 38.0%. The most frequent conditions were increased overjet (19.4%), anterior crossbite (17.2%) and anterior open bite (16.4%). Negative impact on OHRQoL was found in 66.4% of children with malocclusion. The multivariate Poisson regression analysis showed that prevalence of having any impact on OHRQoL was 2.64 times higher for children with malocclusion (95% CI 1.82-3.84) compared to those without. A significant association was found between increased overjet, anterior open bite and OHRQoL (p < 0.001). The findings showed that malocclusion impact on OHRQoL