Pediatric oral health-related quality of life improvement after treatment of early childhood caries: a prospective multisite study.

Purpose: This study's purpose was to compare changes in parent-reported pediatric oral health-related quality of life between children with early childhood caries (ECC) and children who were caries-free; the ECC children received surgical dental intervention between baseline and follow-up.

Methods: A newly developed self-report instrument, the POQL, was administered to 501 parents of 2- to 8-year-old children (caries-free=315; ECC=186) in hospital dental clinics in Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C.

Results: At baseline, ECC children were more likely to have fair or poor oral health and were rated as having more pain and trouble with physical, mental, and social functioning due to their teeth or mouth vs caries-free children (P<.001). At 6 and 12 months following dental treatment for ECC, there were significant improvements in parental ratings of their children's oral health status and a significant reduction in problems reported with physical, mental, and social functioning (all P<.001).

Conclusions: Compared with caries-free children, early childhood caries children were more likely to have worse questionnaire response scores and to experience greater negative impacts on physical, mental, and social functioning. Dental interventions in ECC children had a significant positive impact on parental ratings of their overall oral health and physical, mental, and social functioning.