The impact of dental trauma on quality of life of children and adolescents: a critical review and measurement instruments

Dental trauma constitutes a public health problem with a marked prevalence among Brazilian children and adolescents. Furthermore, it can lead to irreparable dental loss, which makes it important to evaluate this condition using instruments of oral health related to quality of life (OHRQoL). Based on this, a review of the literature sought to expose indices that may assess the evaluation of quality of life among Brazilians with dental trauma, as well as discuss the state of the art of publications about this condition on their OHRQoL followed by a discussion of the output encountered on the subject. With this in mind the articles published from 1980 to June/2011 located on databases (Pubmed, VHL, Google Scholar) or manually in the references of selected publications were prioritized. It was revealed that there is no specific instrument for dental trauma. It is therefore necessary to assess the OHRQoL in children and adolescents with indices found in the literature. Once this has been done, as yet unresolved questions about the impact of dental trauma on OHRQoL can be answered.