How patients perceive impact of diseases is an essential component when characterising different disease impacts, and effects of dental treatments should be perceived by the patients. This study aimed to assess the impact of conservative treatment of deep caries lesions using the selective caries removal (SCR) associated to a low laser therapy (antimicrobial photodynamic therapy-aPDT) on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).
Study design: A non-randomized clinical before-and-after study was conducted on children aged 4 to 8 years. The data was obtained applying the Brazilian version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) to the caretakers in an interview before and after treatment. The paired T-student test considering p<0.05 and the treatment responsiveness detecting the effect size by means of standardized response mean (SRM) was evaluated.
Results: The mean impact on OHRQoL on the total scale was 5.46 ± 4.54 for before and 2.42 ± 3.54 for after treatment (p<0.01). The ECOHIS demonstrated satisfatory longitudinal responsiveness except for psychological, self-image/social interaction and Family function domain (SRM<0.5).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the association of a low laser therapy (aPDT) with SCR did not influence negatively on OHRQoL. In the practice of pediatric dentistry, this conservative dental treatment improved the OHRQoL after 3 months of follow up.
Keywords: Child; caries; oral health; photodynamic therapy; quality of life; treatment.