How Does Dental Trauma Affect the Quality of Life in Turkish Families?

PURPOSE: To assess the responsiveness of the Family Impact Scale (FIS) to describe changes in quality of life (QoL) after traumatic dental injury (TDI), and compare the efficacy of subscales.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Parents of 110 children aged 7-15 admitted to the Gazi University Faculty of Dentistry Department of Paediatric Dentistry for dental trauma were included in this study. A three-part questionnaire was distributed to the participants: questions regarding personal information, TDI and QoL. The types of TDI were classified according to Andreasen et al.3 Quality of life was measured using the FIS. The questionnaires were translation into Turkish, and QoL was measured using the Turkish Family Impact Scale (T-FIS) total score and scores for subscales. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to assess normal distribution of the data. After this procedure, the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used.

RESULTS: Traumatic dental injuries exhibited a negative impact on parents' QoL, as shown by the total T-FIS score and subscales (p < 0.001). In this study, the determined values for parental emotions > parental/family activity > financial burden > family conflict had a negative impact on the parents' QoL. Parental emotional values were statistically different from those of parental/family activity, financial burden and family conflict values (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION: Traumatic dental injuries in children present a negative impact on Turkish parents' QoL. Parental emotions were the most affected subscale.