Oral health status and oral impacts on quality of life in early adolescent cleft patients.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the levels of dental caries, periodontal disease and oral health-related quality of life in children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate compared to non-cleft controls.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Subjects included 68 oral cleft and 118 non-cleft individuals aged 10-14 years, who were interviewed using the Child-Oral Impacts on Daily Pemformance (Child-OIDP) index and received oral examinations.

RESULTS: Decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index in permanent teeth, plaque index (PI), and gingival index (GI) scores were significantly higher in the children with cleft than in the controls. However, there was no significant difference in caries prevalence and decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmnft) index inprimaly teeth between comparison groups. The prevalence of oral impacts on Speaking and Smiling was significantly higher in the cleft children than non-cleft controls. The mean impact score between both groups were not significantly different, but the cleft children with impacts had a significantly higher mean impact score (11.9) than did the controls (8.6). The impact score in the cleft children was high for speaking (4.5), emotion control (4.2), eating (3.4) and relaxing (3.4) activities. The main causes of these impacts included having oro-nasalftstula, having orthodontics appliance, position of teeth and deformity of mouth or face.

CONCLUSION: The cleft children had higher levels ofdental caries and gingivitis, and poorer oral hygiene than the controls. They also had lower quality of life than the controls in most pelformances with different perceived causes.