Oral Health-Related Quality/OHRQoL of Life in Children: An Assessment Insight

Introduction:

Oral health-related quality of life, short form termed OHRQoL, refers to the direct impact of oral diseases, discrepancies, or disorders that affect an individual's well-being and quality of life. As you may know, the mouth is a mirror of your general health; hence, it is obvious that oral cavity issues directly reflect an individual's systemic health status, and vice versa is true. Just like systemic diseases or multi-organ diseases tend to impact the quality of an individual's life, be it in terms of physical, mental, emotional, or social well-being, similarly, the oral cavity has the functions associated with taste, chewing (mastication), grinding, and tactile perception of jaw based sensations, tongue movements, swallowing, and even the important function of speech. It is a major functional system of your body that can impact the quality of life. Oral diseases are increasing globally in terms of their prevalence rates, and a major proportion of medical and dental research studies highlight that children and young adolescents, as well as the geriatric or elderly population groups, are the two major high-risk groups affected by oral issues, especially dental caries (tooth decay due to acid-producing bacteria in the mouth).

What Are the OHRQoL Assessment Protocols Recognized by the World Health Organisation?

Though the OHRQoL assessment protocols have been only a recent introduction over the past few decades, the assessment of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) indeed holds great community-based implications for children across the globe, who are one of the most predisposed and high-risk population groups for developing dental caries. The assessment tools in clinical research also hold value in modern-day dental clinical and dental research because they facilitate multidimensional viewpoints of individuals belonging to different age groups and their subjective evaluation concerning oral health status. As oral health directly is the indicator of an individual's functional well-being, this is more so in the case of children who need to be cared for in terms of their emotional well-being, physical and personal expectations of themselves, and so on to boost their holistic confidence and growth. OHRQoL tools are a wider and more integral part of assessing an individual's general health and well-being. This program is currently recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is also one of the pivotal segments of the global oral health program (2003) giving an insight into dental research statistics given global demographics. Let us see the facts presented by the OHRQoL tools.

What Is the Prevalence of Dental Caries in Children?

According to major research studies, the mean age of preschool children who first experienced dental caries was at the age of four to 4.25 years. Almost female children contributed to more than 50 percent of the affected population group by cariogenic lesions of the tooth enamel compared to male children, as per the collaborative findings of many research studies. It would be surprising to know that the prevalence of untreated dental caries stands at 51.2 percent globally. A total of 60.6 percent of the school children assessed with severely decayed teeth in these research studies showed further complications, such as malocclusion, physiological tooth mobility, or tooth loss affecting their quality of life.

How Is Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Children Affected?

Children, whether of pre-school, mid-school, or high school age often may not be aware of their dental issues or problems with their teeth. However, parents or guardians can notice that children suffering from oral issues, commonly dental decay or dental caries, reportedly face clinical symptoms like a diminished feeling of appetite, difficulty or frequent troubles in chewing food, weight loss, or even difficulty in sleeping due to oral pain and discomfort. This brings us to the necessity of routine dental checkups and awareness in school-going children as dental caries are one of the major prevalent conditions globally and can impact the child negatively compromising their process of growth and development. Further, school-going children of age groups three to 12 years are more likely to face severe dental caries either because of limited oral hygiene, inability to express their oral discomfort, suffering from pain, compromising their quality of life, or ignorance on their behalf or by the parent or the guardian for attending routine dental check-ups. At school, teachers may also not be able to find out or notice the reason behind children's discomfort if they are unable to express their thoughts or feelings.

What Complications Can Arise From Poor Oral Health in Children?

Severe dental caries can lead to low vitamin D status compared to their healthy counterparts or children who are free from cariogenic lesions. In the lower socioeconomic groups, where dental awareness and checkups are often ignored due to lack of finances, feasibility, or accessibility to dental professionals, medical reports have been documented in malnourished children of school-going age that show these individuals have significantly lower levels of calcium and serum albumin with much higher levels of PTH (parathyroid hormone) compared to control group subjects with healthy teeth and no nutritional or systemic deficiencies or diseases.

What Are the Management Strategies for Improving Oral Health in Children?

OHRQoL assessment tools have now been designed primarily for preschool children and have been known to be beneficial for the thorough evaluation of children's oral health status. There is a need for OHRQoL assessment tools across different regions of the globe because they can prove to be highly effective oral health strategies and make way for therapeutic dental or restorative-based interventions for children affected by dental caries.

OHRQoL assessment through clinical trials in different countries across the globe hence provides a basis and insight into the appropriate measures to be taken to counteract dental caries in school-going children. The common intervention strategies are therapeutic remineralizing toothpaste use for kids, proper tooth brushing technique, school-based dental examination, topical fluoride applications, and restorative or endodontic management indicated for primary, mixed, or permanent dentition phases in children and young adolescents of school age.

Conclusion:

These research-based facts thus, show that the OHRQoL directly impacts the oral and systemic health of the affected child. According to researchers, though mild or moderate dental caries cannot significantly impact or alter oral functions, however, any cariogenic lesions in the primary or mixed-dentition phase are usually rapidly progressive, leading to children experiencing pain and discomfort. This is especially true of cariogenic lesions extending to the dental pulp that have been shown to negatively impact the quality of life significantly.