Quality of life of families of adolescents undergoing fixed orthodontic appliance therapy: Evaluation of a cohort of parents/guardians of treated and untreated individuals.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) measurements have been employed in medicine and dentistry to assess the effect of diseases and treatment on individuals' lives. AIM: To assess the effect of the initial 12 months of fixed orthodontic appliance therapy on the families of Brazilian adolescents. DESIGN: A cohort of 11- to 12-year-old adolescents and their parents/guardians participated. Treatment group (TG) consisted of 101 parents/guardians of adolescents who began fixed orthodontic appliance therapy. They completed four sets of the Family Impact Scale (FIS) at baseline, 1 month, 6 months and 12 months after the bonding of fixed appliances. Control group (CG) was composed of 175 parents/guardians of adolescents, who did not begin treatment, answering four sets of the FIS at the same intervals. The subscales of FIS were parental/family activity (PA), parental emotions (PE), family conflict (FC) and financial burden (FB). Statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: The interaction of group (treatment) with time allowed one to observe significant changes in the PA (P < .001), PE (P < .001), FC (P < .001) and overall FIS score (P < .001), demonstrating an improvement in the subscale and overall QoL of families of adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of fixed orthodontic appliance therapy on the families of adolescents was highly beneficial.

Clinical factors associated with the recurrence of central giant cell lesions.

Central giant cell lesion of the jaws (CGCLJ) is a destructive condition that shows a varied and unpredictable biological behaviour. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate factors associated with the recurrence of CGCLJ. Based on the data of a previous systematic review of 2270 cases of CGCLJ, we used the multiple imputation to deal with the missing data. The dependent variable was the recurrence after the first treatment (yes/no). The dichotomic covariates were sex, upper or lower jaw location, size (up to or larger than 4 cm), pain, cortical bone perforation (yes/no), locularity (uni-/multilocular), tooth displacement (yes/no), treatment type (curettage or enucleation) and root resorption (yes/no). The final logistic model indicated that the tumours associated with tooth displacement, root resorption and treated with curettage had a more significant chance of recurrence. In conclusion, our study suggests that tooth displacement, root resorption and the type of treatment are potentially useful in the future construction of an algorithm for patient's treatment.

Impact of orthodontic treatment on adolescents' quality of life: a longitudinal evaluation of treated and untreated individuals.

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of fixed appliance therapy on the quality of life of a cohort of Brazilian adolescents. METHODS: The treatment group was composed of individuals who started orthodontic treatment. The control group was composed of individuals not selected for immediate treatment. Adolescents answered the Brazilian short form of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14). Higher scores indicate a greater negative impact on quality of life. Adolescents in the treatment group completed four sets of interviews: prior to appliances' bonding (T1), 1 month (T2), 6 months (T3) and 12 months (T4) after appliances' placement. Adolescents in the control group were assigned to a comparable schedule. Statistics included inter-group comparisons, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests, and mixed-effects models. RESULTS: In the treatment group, the functional limitation score was higher at T1 (p = 0.004) and T2 (p = 0.007) compared to T4. The emotional well-being score was higher at T1 compared to T2 (p < 0.001), T3 (p < 0.001) and T4 (p < 0.001). The overall CPQ11-14 score was higher at T1 compared to T2 (p = 0.005), T3 (p < 0.001) and T4 (p < 0.001). The overall CPQ11-14 score was also higher at T2 compared to T3 (p = 0.001). No significant change was found in the control group. In the mixed-effects models, the interaction between group (treatment) and time was significant for functional limitations (p < 0.001), emotional well-being (p < 0.001), social well-being (p = 0.004) and the overall CPQ11-14 score (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Quality of life improved among adolescents undergoing orthodontic treatment. Orthodontists should inform patients what they might expect regarding the physical and the psychosocial repercussions of appliance therapy.

Dental Pain Medication Prescriptions in Minas Gerais, Brazil (2011-2021): A Time-Series Analysis.

To describe trends of dentist-prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and analgesics, from January 2011 to December 2021, as well as to examine the relationship between these trends and characteristics of public oral health services in Minas Gerais, Brazil. In this time-series analysis, all drugs were classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification system. Drugs categorized as NSAIDs (M01A), and other analgesics and antipyretics (N02B) were included for analysis. The outcome was the number of Defined Daily Doses (DDDs)/1000 inhabitants/year for NSAIDs and analgesics in each town. Covariates referred to characteristics of public oral health services, such as coverage, estimates of dental procedures, and frequency of toothache. Linear time-series regression models were used to determine the influence of covariates on the outcome. Overall, there were 58,482 prescriptions of NSAIDs recorded in thirty-eight towns, while 47,499 prescriptions of analgesics in forty-three towns. For each year, there was a 0.38 (p < 0.001), and 0.28 (p < 0.001) increase in the average log of DDD/1000 inhabitants/year for NSAIDs and analgesics, respectively. A positive association was detected between toothache (p < 0.001) and the prescription of NSAIDs. Over the eleven years, there was a general rising trend in the prescriptions. Toothache was the only characteristic of public oral health services associated with the prescription rates of NSAIDs, implying that as the frequency of toothaches increase, so do the prescriptions of NSAIDs in the studied towns.