Impact of diagnostic strategies for caries lesions detection on quality of life of preschool children

Abstract

Our aim will be to evaluate the influence of two different diagnostic strategies for caries lesions detection in primary teeth on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) after two years of follow-up. For this, a randomized clinical trials has been performed to evaluate the difference of OHRQoL in children submitted to two different diagnostic strategies for caries detection in their primary teeth: (1) caries lesions detection performed only through visual inspection; (2) caries lesions detection conducted using the association of visual inspection and radiographic methods. Thus, 250 children aged 3 to six years were randomly allocated in those two groups according to the diagnostic strategy used for caries detection. Children were submitted to the diagnostic strategy which they were allocated, and a treatment plan was performed according to this strategy. A questionnaire to evaluate the children's OHRQoL was applied for the parents. The instrument was the Early Childhood Oral health Impact Sacle (ECOHIS). After performing the treatment plan, children were treated accordingly and they are being followed-up until 24 months. After this period, children will return and the ECOHIS will be applied again for their parents. Also, a global transition question will be done, and the parents will report what is their opinion if their children improved or not after the dental treatment received according to a Likert scale (from worsened a lot to improved a lot). The outcome variables will be related to the change in the OHRQoL, considering the initial ECOHIS as comparison. The outcomes will be compared quantitatively (changes in the ECOHIS scores and effect sizes) and considering a dichotomous variable (improvement or not in the quality of life), and comparisons will be carried out between two experimental groups. (AU)