Conceptual modelling of the factors affecting oral health‐related quality of life in children: A path analysis

Abstract

Background It is important to understand the interaction of various predictors with oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) to better design effective interventions to improve OHRQoL. Aim The aim of this study was to develop and validate a conceptual model evaluating the factors affecting the OHRQoL in children. Design The study group consisted of 754 parent‐child dyads. The data collection tools were a socio‐demographic data form, the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS), Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (C‐DAS), Children's Fear Survey Schedule‐Dental Subscale (CFSS‐DS), and an oral and dental health examination form. A conceptual model was developed to examine the factors affecting OHRQoL in children consisting of four endogenous and four exogenous variables. Path analysis was used to test the compatibility of the conceptual model. Results OHRQoL was associated with parental socio‐economic status (β = −0.12; P < .001), dental anxiety (β = −0.15; P < .001), and oral health behaviours (β = −0.13; P < .001). Although parental dental anxiety had the strongest direct effect on OHRQoL, children's oral health behaviours had the strongest indirect effect. Conclusions This study revealed a valid demonstrable path of association between parental socio‐economic status, dental anxiety, childhood dental anxiety, oral health behaviours, and OHRQoL.

Impact of maternal and child dental anxiety on oral health-related quality of life of 5–6-year-old preschool children

“…Other studies also found a similar finding where untreated dental caries had affected the quality of life of the children [19,22]. Buldur and Guvendi [18] found an indirect relationship between parental dental anxiety, dental caries, and COHRQoL. However, Low et al, [55] reported that children may not complain of pain from decayed teeth but may be affected by other impacts related to oral function.…”

“…The correlation between mother's dental anxiety and children's dental anxiety was found to be very low in this study. Few studies had reported similar findings but the majority of studies confirmed a relationship between maternal and child dental anxiety especially in children aged 8 years and below [17,18,25,29,52].…”

“…In addition, the role of demographic factors as moderators was also determined. Mothers are the main caregivers responsible for childrearing and transmitting health related behaviours to their children [18,29]. A large sample of preschool children where the majority of parents were young mothers of Malay ethnicity aged less than 40 years participated in this study.…”

“…Besides dental anxiety, quality of life is also important as it helps us to understand the impact of dental problems and their treatment on patients' well-being [16][17][18][19]. The impact of oral health on quality of life is assessed using the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) instruments [20].…”

“…At the same time, children whose mothers had moderate or high levels of dental anxiety were more likely to have untreated dental caries than children whose mothers had low dental anxiety [17,26,27]. In addition, many studies had reported that maternal dental anxiety, socioeconomic status, and oral health behaviours were also associated with poorer child's OHRQoL (COHRQoL) [17,18,28,29]. On the other hand, child dental anxiety was associated with child's dental caries [30], and child's dental caries was associated with COHRQoL [22].…”