Impact of untreated dental caries and dental pain on sadness related to oral health of Brazilian children

Purpose Children should feel sad when they believe that a negative outcome is permanent. The sadness that an oral problem might bring tends to contribute to children’s loneliness and increase the social stress levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of untreated dental caries, dental pain, malocclusion, and traumatic dental injury on prevalence of sadness related to oral health among Brazilian children. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out with 397 children aged 8–10 years randomly selected from public and private schools in Diamantina, Brazil. The Brazilian version of the CPQ 8-10 was applied. Sadness was collected through the question, “In the last month how often did you feel sad because of your teeth or mouth?” and dental pain through the question, “In the last month, how many times have you had pain in your teeth?” One calibrated examiner (Kappa value intra examiner: 0.77–0.91; Kappa value inter examiner: 0.80–1.00) performed the exam for dental caries (DMFT), malocclusion (DAI), and dental trauma (O’Brien). Parents answered questions addressing socioeconomic issues. Descriptive analyses, Chi-square test, and hierarchical Poisson regression models were performed (IC 95%; p < 0.05).” Results The prevalence of sadness related to oral health was 30.5% ( n = 121). Sadness related to oral health was associated with untreated dental caries (PR: 1.46; 95% CI 1.32-2.46; p = 0.001 ) and dental pain (PR: 2.91; 95% CI 2.00–4.22; p < 0.001). Other clinical variables analyzed (traumatic dental injury and malocclusion) were not significantly associated with sadness related to oral health. Conclusions Children with untreated dental caries and dental pain presented a higher report of sadness related to oral health.