Determinants of parental report of dental pain and discomfort in preschool children-The Dental Discomfort Questionnaire

Background: Pain is a major consequence of caries, which negatively impacts the quality of life of children and their families.

Aim: To analyse the parental report of dental pain and discomfort in preschool children, and to identify clinical and sociodemographic factors associated.

Design: This cross-sectional study involved 375 four- and five-year-old preschoolers enrolled in the city of Campo Magro public school system, along with their parents and caregivers. Parents/caregivers answered the Brazilian version of the Dental Discomfort Questionnaire (DDQ-B) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Two examiners (kappa > 0.79) performed clinical examinations using dmf-t and pufa index. The associations were statistically analysed by univariate and multiple Poisson regression with robust variance (α = 0.05).

Results: The prevalence of dental pain and discomfort was 70.3% (66%-75% 95% CI). Children from non-nuclear families (PR_a 1.33; 95% CI: 1.01-1.76) and whose parents presented a lower level of education (PR_a 2.43; 95% CI 1.66-3.55) presented a higher prevalence of dental pain or discomfort. Considering the clinical determinants, after adjusting, only the presence of clinical consequences of untreated dental caries (pufa ≥ 1) (PR_a 1.37; 95% CI 1.02-1.84) was significantly associated with higher dental pain or discomfort.

Conclusions: Dental pain and discomfort were associated with socioeconomic factors and with the presence of clinical consequences of untreated dental caries.