Oral-health-related quality of life measures that exist are designed for adults. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the CPQ(11-14), a self-report measure of the impact of oral and oro-facial conditions on 11- to 14-year-old children. An item pool was generated with the use of a literature review and interviews with health professionals, parents, and child patients. The 36 items rated the most frequent and bothersome by 83 children were selected for the CPQ(11-14). Validity testing involved a new sample of 123 children. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a subgroup of these children (n = 65). Mean CPQ(11-14) scores were highest for oro-facial (31.4), lower for orthodontic (24.3), and lowest for pedodontic (23.3) patients. There were significant associations between the CPQ(11-14) score and global ratings of oral health (p < 0.05) and overall well-being (p < 0.01). The Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient for the CPQ(11-14) were 0.91 and 0.90, respectively. These results suggest that the CPQ(11-14) is valid and reliable.

The terms 'health-related quality of life' and 'quality of life' are now in common use to describe the outcomes of oral health conditions and therapy for those conditions. In addition, there has been a proliferation of measures designed to quantify those outcomes. These measures, which were initially designated as socio-dental indicators or subjective oral health indicators are now more usually referred to as measures of oral health-related quality of life (OH-QoL). This is based on the assumption that the functional and psychosocial impacts they document must, of necessity, affect the quality of life. While this assumption has been subject to critical scrutiny in medicine, this is not the case with dentistry. Consequently, exactly what is being measured by indexes of OH-QoL is somewhat unclear. Based on the debate between Gill and Feinstein and Guyatt and Cook, we outline a number of criteria by means of which the construct addressed by measures of OH-QoL may be assessed. These are concerned with how the measures were developed and validated. These criteria are then used to appraise five of the many measures that have been developed over the past 20 years--the GOHAI, OHIP, OIDP, COHQoL and OH-QoL. The main conclusion is that while all document the frequency of the functional and psychosocial impacts that emanate from oral disorders they do not unequivocally establish the meaning and significance of those impacts. Consequently, the claim that oral disorders affect the quality of life has yet to be clearly demonstrated. Verifying this claim requires further qualitative studies of the outcomes of oral disorders as perceived by patients and persons, and the concurrent use of measures that more explicitly address the issue of quality of life.

In order that health service resources are allocated in the way which most benefits the population, systematic review of the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of programmes and interventions are required. This study examined papers relating to dental health education interventions, which were published between 1982 and 1994 (n = 143). Each was scored by two independent researchers according to twenty predetermined validity criteria. For each paper which achieved a validity score of more than 12 (n = 37), data concerning the objectives of the intervention, the types and numbers of participants, and the outcomes, were extracted from the article. Where sufficient data were provided in a paper which met more than 15 of the validity criteria quantitative meta-analysis was carried out i.e. the results of the studies were pooled in order to calculate an overall intervention effect with confidence intervals. This combination of qualitative and quantitative review techniques showed that dental health interventions have: a small positive, but temporary effect on plaque accumulation (reduction in plaque index = 0.37 95% CI -0.29-0.59); no discernible effect on caries increment and a consistent positive effect on knowledge levels. The results of this analysis suggest that further efforts to synthesise current information about dental health education, in a systematic way, are required, along with maintenance of rigorous scientific standards in evaluation research.