Application and dimensional structure of the early childhood oral health impact scale.

Objective To investigate influence of oral diseases on child oral health-related quality of life, and to identify the dimensional structure of the early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS). Methods The Chinese language version of ECOHIS was applied to 280 patients aged 2-5 years old from the paediatric dentistry clinic of West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University. The three-dimensional construct was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results Two hundred and sixty-eight valid questionnaires (95.7%) were reclaimed. For the child impact section of the ECOHIS, "pain in the teeth, mouth or jaws" was the most frequently reported item by the parents. Item of "feeling upset or guilty" was most frequently reported in the family impact section of the ECOHIS. The CFA results indicated that all factor loadings to its items were 0.25-0.81 with one factor loadings less than 0.30. The modified factor model revealed a better fit to the data. Conclusion Oral diseases have negative impact on the children's oral health-related quality of life. ECOHIS is a three-dimensional structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]