A qualitative study of children's quality of life in the context of living with cleft lip and palate

Background and objective

Quality-of-life measures have been expanded to help in assessing the physical and psychosocial effects of oral health. Although, in the case of children undergoing oral surgery, the oro-facial status is generally measured by studies, it is essential to carry out investigations into the level of quality of life (QoL) after surgery to assess the actual effect of these surgeries on children’s lives. Hence, our study is aimed at evaluating the QoL in these children.

Methods

The study was performed using qualitative content analysis method. Eighteen caregivers of 4–6 year old children with a history of unilateral cleft lip and palate participated in in-depth interviews about the children’s experiences with different problems affecting their daily lives. The results were divided into codes, sub-categories and categories through an inductive process in which the researchers moved from the specific to the general.

Result

A number of problems were identified, particularly insufficient functional and socio-emotional well-being including, difficulty in eating and speaking, dento-facial problems, shame, anxiety, insufficient peer interaction and dissatisfaction with their own appearance.

Conclusion

The most critical problems derived from the participants’ experiences were insufficient functional and socio-emotional well-being that contributed to the reduced QoL among these children. Long term multidisciplinary interventional strategies such as psycho-social supportive programs are required to improve the QoL of these children. These interventions should be considered from the early stages of treatment, or even early stages of diagnosis.

Impact of oral clefts on the oral health-related quality of life of preschool children and their parents

Objective

To assess the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of preschool children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and their relatives.

Materials and Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 55 2-5-year-old children with the history of CLP were randomly selected from those referred to Shiraz Lip and Palate Cleft Research Center and treated with single-stage closure (Push back palatoplasty). Furthermore, same number of children with the same age who attended the Shiraz School of Dentistry for routine dental care were selected as control group using randomized sampling. Children's demographic data were obtained from their parents. Farsi version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (F-ECOHIS) was used for evaluating these children's QoL.

Results

We found a significant difference in OHRQoL between children with CLP and children without CLP in the overall score of F-ECOHIS and all of subscales. In the impact on children subscale, the difference between these groups was remarkable in limitations' domain. As for difficulties faced by children, question on "difficulty in pronouncing words" had the highest average score. Furthermore, in impact on family, in parental distress domain, the difference between these groups was remarkable. For difficulties faced by family, financial impact got the highest average score. No significant difference was found between boys and girls with CLP in all subscales. While according to the score of total F-ECOHIS in unilateral and bilateral CLP children, there was statistically significant difference in these groups.

Conclusion

Since oral clefts affect the QoL of children and their families even after the usual treatments, the implementation and maintenance of multidisciplinary interventional strategies are required for establishment of facial esthetics, oral function, and psychological support for such individuals.

Evaluation of levels of knowledge about etiology and symptoms of oral cancer in southern Iran

BACKGROUND

Knowledge regarding risk factors and primary signs of oral cancer in the general population can help them to avoid risky behaviour and seek timely advice from a physician. The aim of this study was to survey adult knowledge about risk factors and signs of oral cancer in Shiraz Dental University.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this descriptive cross-sectional study using an investigator-made questionnaire, 783 adults who were referred to Shiraz Dental University participated. Questionnaire data were analyzed by ANOVA and T-test.

RESULTS

The results showed that 32.3% of participants were aware of oral cancer and gained their knowledge from the media. The risk factors mentioned by these participants was as follows: sunlight 30.8%, hot and peppery food 40.7%, alcoholic drinks 47.4% and smoking 73.6% (there was significant relationship for drinking alcohol and gender, education and times of using dental service, p<0.05). They also mentioned the primary signs of oral cancer as follows: red patch without pain 27.8%, white patch without pain 13.5% and prolong scarring without pain 56.7% (there was significant relationship between these three signs and education and times of using dental service, p<0.05). The mean knowledge about the risk factors and signs of oral cancer were 1.94 from 5 with 1.14 standard deviation and 0.96 from 3 with 0.93 standard deviation.

CONCLUSIONS

The observed low level of knowledge of people regarding both risk factors and signs of oral cancer emphasizes the need for more efforts to be made about the above mentioned issues by the media.