The study aimed to develop and test a Malay version of the Child-OIDP index, evaluate its psychometric properties and report on the prevalence of oral impacts on eight daily performances in a sample of 11–12 year old Malaysian schoolchildren.

The Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) is used to assess oral impacts on the quality of life of preschool aged children and their families. The objective of this study was to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the ECOHIS into Malay and assess its psychometric properties. The cross-cultural adaptation of ECOHIS into Malay comprised of translating the ECOHIS into the Malay language (Malay-ECOHIS) by experts followed by face validation of the Malay-ECOHIS by a group of mothers. The Malay-ECOHIS was back translated into English and this was compared with the original ECOHIS. Minor changes were made to the Malay-ECOHIS before it was finalised. The Malay-ECOHIS’ psychometric properties were assessed in terms of construct, convergent and discriminant validity as well as internal and test-retest reliability based on two separate studies involving 127 parents of 4–6 year old preschool children followed by oral examinations of 860 preschool children from 25 kindergartens from two districts in Selangor state, Malaysia. Non-parametric statistics were used to assess the relationships between the Malay-ECOHIS and the subjective and clinical outcome measures. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.83 and the weighted Kappa was 0.95 (intraclass correlation = 0.94). The Malay-ECOHIS demonstrated significant associations with different subjective and normative measures, i.e. levels of oral health satisfaction, perceived oral health status, perceived oral health need, toothache experience, pattern of dental attendance, and caries status of preschool children. These significant associations supported its construct, convergent and discriminant validity as well as internal and test-retest reliability. This study showed that the Malay-ECOHIS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess the negative impacts of oral disorders/conditions on the quality of life of 4–6 year old preschool children and their families in Malaysia.

Poor oral health among Malaysian indigenous Orang Asli (OA) children may impact on their daily performances. To assess the oral health status, related behaviours, and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among OA children in Cameron Highlands (CH), Malaysia, and to identify the predictor(s) for poor OHRQoL. This was a cross-sectional study involving 249, 11–12 year old OA children from 4 OA primary schools in CH. The children completed a self-administered questionnaire comprising information on socio-demographics, oral health-related behaviours, and the Malay Child Oral Impacts on Daily Performances (Malay Child-OIDP) index followed by an oral examination. Data were entered into the SPSS version 23.0 software. Non-parametric tests and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. The response rate was 91.2% (n = 227/249). The prevalence of caries was 61.6% (mean DMFT = 1.36, mean dft = 1.01) and for gingivitis was 96.0%. Despite the majority reported brushing their teeth ≥ 2x/day (83.7%) with fluoride toothpaste (80.2%), more than two-thirds chewed betel nut ≥ 1/day (67.4%). Majority of the children (97.8%) had a dental check-up once a year. Nearly three-fifths (58.6%) reported experiencing oral impacts on their daily performances in the past 3 months (mean score = 5.45, SD = 8.5). Most of the impacts were of “very little” to “moderate” levels of impact intensity with 90.2% had up to 4 daily performances affected. Most of the impacts were on eating (35.2%), cleaning teeth (22.0%) and relaxing activities (15.9%). Caries in primary teeth is associated with oral impacts among the OA children. The 11–12 year old OA children in Cameron Highland had high prevalence of caries and gingivitis with the majority chewed betel nut regularly. Caries in primary teeth is associated with poor OHRQoL. Future programmes should target younger age group children to promote positive oral hygiene practices, reduce caries, and improve quality of life.

Background This paper describes the cross-cultural adaptation of the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) into Malay version (Malay PIDAQ), an oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) instrument specific for orthodontics for Malaysian adolescents between 12 and 17 years old. Methods The PIDAQ was cross-culturally adapted into Malay version by forward- and backward-translation processes, followed by psychometric validations. After initial investigation of the conceptual suitability of the measure for the Malaysian population, the PIDAQ was translated into Malay, pilot tested and back translated into English. Psychometric properties were examined across two age groups (319 subjects aged 12–14 and 217 subjects aged 15–17 years old) for factor structure, internal consistency, reproducibility, discriminant and construct validity, criterion validity, and assessment of floor and ceiling effects. Results Fit indices by confirmatory factor analysis showed good fit statistics (comparative fit index = 0.936, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.064) and invariance across age groups. Internal consistency and reproducibility tests were satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.71-0.91; intra-class correlations = 0.72-0.89). Significant differences in Malay PIDAQ mean scores were observed between subjects with severe malocclusion and those with slight malocclusion based on a self-rated and an investigator-rated malocclusion index, for all subscales and all age groups (p < 0.05). Construct validity of the Malay PIDAQ subscales with those who rated themselves with excellent to poor dental appearance and those who felt they needed or did not need braces, showed significant associations for all age groups (p < 0.05). Criterion validity also showed significant association between the Malay PIDAQ scores with those with and without impact on daily activities attributed to malocclusion. There were no ceiling effects detected but floor effects were detected for the Aesthetic Concern subscale. Conclusion The study has provided initial evidence for the validity and reliability of the Malay PIDAQ to assess the impact of malocclusion on the OHRQoL of 12–17 year old Malaysian adolescents.