Perceived Dental Pain: Determinants and Impact on Brazilian Schoolchildren

Aims: To assess reports of dental pain in a school-based sample of children in South Brazil and test its association with socioeconomic, demographic, psychosocial, and clinical variables. Also, the consequences of dental pain on oral health perception and its impact on daily life were investigated. Methods: A two-stage cluster procedure was used to select 1,199 children in 20 public and private schools in Pelotas, Brazil. Children were interviewed to obtain self-reports of dental pain. They were also asked about perception of their oral health and dental fear. Mothers answered a questionnaire on socioeconomic characteristics. A clinical oral examination was conducted to assess dental caries, malocclusion, and dental trauma. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with dental pain in the previous 6 months and its effect on oral health perception. Results: The prevalence of dental pain was 35.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 33.0-38.5) in the previous 6 months. A higher prevalence of dental pain was observed for children from lower-income families (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.39; 95% CI 1.10-1.76), for girls (PR 1.24; 95% CI 1.06-1.46), for those living in overcrowded houses (PR 1.23; 95% CI 1.01-1.49), for those who reported dental fear (PR 1.19; 95% CI 1.00-1.42), and for those with caries experience (PR 1.57; 95% CI 1.34-1.84), after adjustments. Dental pain presence influenced oral health perception (PR 2.56; 95% CI 1.55-3.29) and impacted the children's daily life (PR 1.89; 95% CI 1.64-2.17). Conclusion: A high percentage of schoolchildren suffered from dental pain, which was influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics, causing a negative impact on oral health perception.