Schoolchildren with malocclusion from lower-income families experience a greater negative impact on OHRQoL.

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to translate, perform the cross-cultural adaptation of the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry to Brazilian-Portuguese language and test the reliability and validity of this version.MethodsAfter translation and cross-cultural adaptation, interviews were conducted with 258 parents/caregivers of children in treatment at the pediatric dentistry clinics and health units in Curitiba, Brazil. To test the instrument's validity, the scores of Brazilian Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry (BREALD-30) were compared based on occupation, monthly household income, educational attainment, general literacy, use of dental services and three dental outcomes.ResultsThe BREALD-30 demonstrated good internal reliability. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.88 to 0.89 when words were deleted individually. The analysis of test-retest reliability revealed excellent reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.983 and Kappa coefficient ranging from moderate to nearly perfect). In the bivariate analysis, BREALD-30 scores were significantly correlated with the level of general literacy (rs = 0.593) and income (rs = 0.327) and significantly associated with occupation, educational attainment, use of dental services, self-rated oral health and the respondent’s perception regarding his/her child's oral health. However, only the association between the BREALD-30 score and the respondent’s perception regarding his/her child's oral health remained significant in the multivariate analysis.ConclusionThe BREALD-30 demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties and is therefore applicable to adults in Brazil.

Oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) is an important aspect of health outcomes and its assessment should be made using validated instruments. The psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics questionnaire (PIDAQ) is an OHRQoL instrument that assesses the psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics was developed and validated for use on young adults. The aim of the present study was to assess the reliability, validity, and applicability of the PIDAQ for young adults in Brazil. After translation and cross-cultural adaptation, the questionnaire was completed by 245 individuals (124 males and 121 females) aged 18-30 years from the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In order to test discriminant validity, the subjects were examined for the presence or absence of malocclusion based on the dental aesthetic index criteria. Dental examinations were carried out by a previously calibrated examiner [weighted kappa = 0.64-1.00, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.78-1.00]. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach's alpha of the subscales was between 0.75 and 0.91 and test-retest reliability was assessed using the ICC, which ranged from 0.89 to 0.99 for dental self-confidence and social impact, thereby revealing satisfactory reliability. Discriminant validity revealed that subjects without malocclusion had different PIDAQ scores when compared with those with malocclusion. The results suggest that the Brazilian version of the PIDAQ has satisfactory psychometric properties and is thus applicable to young adults in Brazil. Further research is needed to assess these properties in population studies.

BackgroundTraumatic dental injury (TDI) during childhood may negatively impact the quality of life of children.ObjectiveTo describe the association of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and domains (oral symptons, functional limitation, emotional- and social-well-being) of children with individual and contextual variables.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed using a representative sample of 1,201 schoolchildren, 8–10 years-old, from public and private schools of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The CPQ8–10 was used to assess OHRQoL, dichotomized in low and high impact. Sociodemographic information was collected through questionnaires to parents. Children were examined at schools, using the Andreasen criteria. Individual variables were gender, age, number of residents in home, parents/caregivers’ level of education, family income, and TDI (dichotomized into without trauma/mild trauma and severe trauma). Dental caries and malocclusion were considered co-variables. Contextual variables were the Social Vulnerability Index and type of school. Ethical approval and consent forms were obtained. Data were analyzed using SPSS for Windows 19.0 and HLM 6.06, including frequency distribution, chi-squared test and multilevel approach (p < 0.05).ResultsThe prevalence of a negative impact on OHRQoL in children with severe trauma was 55.9%. The TDI negatively impacted emotional and social domains of OHRQoL. A multilevel analysis revealed a significant difference in OHRQoL according to the type of school and showed that 16% of the total variance was due to contextual characteristics (p < 0.001; ICC = 0.16). The negative impact on OHRQoL was higher in girls (p = 0.009), younger children (p = 0.023), with severe TDI (p = 0.014), those from public schools (p = 0.017) and whose parents had a lower education level (p = 0.001).ConclusionSevere trauma impacts OHRQoL on emotional and social domains. Contextual dimensions add information to individual variability to explain higher impact, emphasizing socioeconomic inequalities.

PurposeThe objective of this study was to assess the negative impact of dental caries on the OHRQoL of 8- to 10-year-old Brazilian children.MethodsThis population-based case-control study involved 546 children (8–10 years old), 182 cases with a high negative impact on OHRQoL and 364 controls with a low negative impact on OHRQoL. Children’s OHRQOL was measured using the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ8-10). Cases and controls (1x2 ratio) were individually matched by school and gender. Dental caries experience, malocclusion, and traumatic dental injuries were used as independent variables. Dental examinations were carried out at school during daytime hours by two calibrated examiners (Kappa = 0.93-interexaminer and 0.95- intraexaminer). The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, conditional bivariate and multiple logistic regression, with the significance level set at 5%.ResultsThere was no significant difference in traumatic dental injuries and malocclusion between the case and control groups (p>0.05). Children with DMFT/dmft ≥3 had a 2.06-fold (95%CI = 1.28–3.31, p = 0.003) greater chance of experiencing a high negative impact on OHRQoL than those with DMFT/dmft = 0ConclusionChildren with high dental caries experience are more likely to present a high negative impact on OHRQoL than those with no dental caries experience.

Dental caries experience and severity score of dental caries in primary teeth was influenced by age, household income, and the type of school The dental caries experience in permanent teeth was influenced by age, parents'/caregivers' schooling, household income, and type of school, whereas the severity score of dental caries in permanent teeth was influenced by age and type of school.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of dental caries and social determinants in the Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) of children in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. This is a population-based cross-sectional study with a representative sample of 1,204 children aged 8 to 10 years randomly selected from 19 public and private schools. The children were clinically examined at school by two trained and calibrated examiners (Kappa = 0.78 -1.00). The Decayed, Missing and Filled Teeth Index (DMF-T and dmf-t) was used for the diagnosis of dental caries. The social factors were determined by parents' /caregivers' schooling, household income, number of people in the household, type of school, and by the Social Vulnerability Index. The Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire for ages 8 to 10 years was used to assess the impact on quality of life. A total of 278 (23.1%) out of 1,204 children had at least one cavitated carious lesion and 47.0% presented a negative impact on OHRQoL. In the final multivariate Poisson's regression model, household income and presence of untreated dental caries were statistically associated with a negative impact on OHRQoL (p < 0.001). Children with dental caries and from low-income families had a higher negative impact on OHRQoL.

The present study analyzed the profile of dental researchers receiving grants related to their productivity in research from the Brazilian National Research and Development Council (CNPq). Data collection was carried out in March 2008, using the Brazilian database for curriculum vitae (Lattes Format). There were 144 researchers registered in the database and linked to 25 institutions. These researchers published a total of 12,997 full-text articles, 6,927 of which were published in the last 5 years. Category 1 grant holders (n=77) were responsible for 53.5% of this production; Category 2 grant holders (n=65) were responsible for 45.1%; Senior grant holders (n=2) were responsible for 1.4%. Regarding institutional affiliation, 90.3% of the research grants holders develop activities at public institutions and 9.7% develop activities in private institutions. Furthermore, 84.0% of the researchers are linked to institutions located in the southeast region of Brazil and 75.0% of the researchers perform their activities in the state of São Paulo. This study performed a mapping of the distribution of CNPq researchers, revealing a concentration in the southeast region of the country, especially in the state of São Paulo. The findings of the present study also demonstrate the important contribution of grant holders to the scientific production in dentistry in Brazil.