Objective: To present and analyse the Dental Discomfort Questionnaire (DDQ) for very young children and to assess the possible differences in pain-related behaviours displayed by children with or without reported toothache, and by children with or without decayed teeth.
Methods: Based on parental interviews of toddlers referred to a dental care practice 12 pain-related behaviours were identified which formed the DDQ. The DDQ was filled out by parents on behalf of their children (n = 146; mean age 47 months). Two-third (n = 94) of the children were referred to a special dental care centre and one-third (n = 52) were controls from a day care centre.
Results: The results show that the 12 items of the DDQ seem to measure one dimension. However, four items do not correlate with the presence of reported toothache, when these items are removed the DDQ-8 has a satisfactory reliability. All eight behaviours from the DDQ-8 occur significantly more often in children with decayed teeth and toothache than in children without decayed teeth or toothache. Especially behaviours concerning eating or brushing teeth are found to be more often present in children with decayed teeth and toothache.
Conclusions: It seems useful to take the child behaviour into account in assessing toothache. The DDQ has shown to be a reliable instrument, which could be helpful in the future for both parents and dentists in identifying toothache in young children.