Impact of Dental Rehabilitation on Oral Health-related Quality-of-life in Healthy Children and Those with Special Health Care Needs

The aim of this study is to compare the effect of dental rehabilitation on oral health-related quality-of-life (OHRQoL) in children with special health care needs (CSHCN) and healthy children. The prospective study's sample consisted of 213 parents of caries-affected children, who were aged 6 years or younger and were scheduled for dental rehabilitation under general anesthesia (DRGA). The parent-child dyads were recruited from three public hospitals in Jeddah between October 2014 and May 2016. They comprised healthy children (n = 133) and CSHCN (n = 80). Parents self-completed the early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) before and 1 month after DRGA. The parents also rated the overall oral health status of their children by answering a global question before and after DRGA. At baseline, the CSHCN had significantly worse OHRQoL in most of the scale domains at 25.9 [standard deviation (SD) 11.3] and 19.9 (SD 10.3) respectively. The OHRQoL significantly improved in both groups postoperatively (p = 0.005, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). The effect size of the improvement in the CSHCN group (+1.8) was greater than that in the healthy group (+1.5) in all domains, except for the family impact and parental distress sections. The DRGA markedly improves OHRQoL in children aged 6 years or younger, and the improvement is even greater in CSHCN. The substantial improvement in OHRQoL after DRGA highlights the importance of oral health care in young children, which should receive higher priority than it has been done to date. Children with special health care needs, Dental caries, Early childhood oral health impact scale, General anesthesia, Oral health-related quality-of-life.