Influence of toothache on oral health-related quality of life during adolescence: a cohort study

• DOI: 10.1007/s00784-022-04430-z
• Publication Date: 2022-03-08T02:02:42Z
• Authors: Andressa Weber Va...; Marília Cunha Mar...; Fernanda Ruffo Ortiz; Diego Machado Ard...; Thiago Machado Ar...
• Keywords: Toothache

This study aims to evaluate the influence of toothache in early adolescence on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) on later adolescence.A longitudinal study was conducted, starting in 2012 within a random sample of 1,134 adolescents of 12-year-olds, in Santa Maria, Brazil. Clinical, socioeconomic, demographic, and subjective variables were obtained. Toothache was collected through the question "In the last 6 months, did you have toothache?" Six years later, the same adolescents answered the short form of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14). Multilevel Poisson regression was used to evaluate the association between toothache at baseline (2012) with overall and domain-specific CPQ11-14 scores at follow-up (2018).A total of 769 adolescents were revaluated in 2018 (68% rate retention), with a mean age of 17.5 years (SD, 0.64). Adolescents who reported toothache at the baseline presented a had a higher mean score in the overall CPQ questionnaire during follow-up (Incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.25; 95% CI 1.20-1.31). Toothache was also associated with all domain-specific CPQ11-14 even after adjusting the other variables.Brazilian adolescents who had toothache in early adolescence, even if only a single episode, have a negative impact on OHRQoL throughout adolescence.These findings serve as a warning for dental professionals to dedicate their preventive approaches and to promote healthy standards in this age group, in order to avoid episodes of toothache and negative impact on OHRQoL.