Changes of OHRQoL of Preschool Children After Receiving ART Restorations

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the short-term and long-term changes of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of preschool children after having received atraumatic restorative treatment (ART). Methods: In a randomized controlled clinical trial, preschool children with cavitated dentin caries lesions in their primary teeth were randomly assigned into two groups to receive either application of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) solution or placebo (tonic water) on the caries lesions 10 weeks before receiving ART restorations. The OHRQoL of the children was evaluated at baseline (1 week before receiving ART restoration), the 6-month, and the 24-month follow-up using the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) through a parental questionnaire. Failed and missing ART restorations were not replaced in this study. Results: A total of 194 children with parental consent participated in this study, with 101 and 93 children receiving SDF and placebo application before ART restorations, respectively. There were no significant differences in the mean ECOHIS scores between the two study groups at baseline, the 6-month and the 12-month follow-up (Manny-Whitney U test, p>0.05). Compared with the baseline scores, there were no statistically significant changes in the child impact section (CIS) (6-month vs baseline, 4.4±5.0 vs 4.0±4.6), family impact section (FIS) (2.8±3.0 vs 2.6±2.9) and total ECOHIS (7.1±7.4 vs 6.5±7.0) scores at the 6-month follow-up (Friedman’s two-way ANOVA test, p>0.05). In contrast, the CIS (5.2±4.7) and total ECOHIS (8.1±7.0) scores at the 24-month follow-up were significantly higher than those at baseline (Friedman’s two-way ANOVA test, p<0.01), but not the FIS score (2.9±2.9) (p>0.05). Conclusions: In this study, a single-time placement of ART restorations in decayed primary teeth was not able to significantly improve the short-term and the long-term OHRQoL of preschool children.