The relationship between children’s oral health behaviours and oral health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Understanding oral health behaviour s and their impact on Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) may serve as an instrument to articulate the conventional oral health policy framework, thereby ameliorating the overall health of young individuals in the long term. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between children’s oral health behaviour s and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in the capital governorate, Kuwait. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involving 607 children aged 12–14 years, randomly selected from schools in Kuwait Capital Region. A validated Oral Health Behaviour s and OHRQoL Child Perception Questionnaires (CPQ(12-14)) was used to collect the data. Chi-square, t-tests, and ANOVA were used to examine the association between oral behaviour s and children’s OHRQoL. RESULTS: About 52.2% of participants were males and the overall response rate was 93.8%. The mean ± SD for total OHRQoL impact was 3.1 ± 0.58, while the total mean for individual domains- for oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional well-being and social well-being were 2.89 ± 0.63, 2.89 ± 0.72, 3.1 ± 0.91 and 3.4 ± 0.61, respectively. There was no significant difference in total OHRQoL impact score by frequency of last dental visit, flossing, use of mouth rinse or chewing gum (p > 0.05) but for the overall OHRQoL, frequency of soft drink intake was the only significant predictor associated with 0.2-unit decrease (B = -0.207, 95% CI, p = 0.002) in total OHRQoL scores. CONCLUSIONS: High frequency of soft drink consumption was related to poorer OHRQoL. Behaviour changing interventions based on OHRQoL inferences coupled with clinical intervention are needed. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12903-023-03454-5.