Abstract The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire that allows a systematic evaluation of the impact of self-perceived oral health on expectations of getting a job on adult population seeking dental care, and to describe its associations with demographic characteristics, job related, and health coverage variables. We designed a descriptive cross-sectional study including men and women aged 18 to 65 years from a population seeking dental services in a walk-in clinic. In a first stage we design and validated an instrument on a sample of 100 subjects. The questionnaire was registered in a Likert scale, with higher scores represented higher impact of the oral status self-perception on employability. We calculated internal consistency, construct validity, and domains validation. The final instrument consisted in an 18-item questionnaire (Cronbach α = 0.814), grouped into two domains based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The total variance explained with values >1 was 66 percent, grouping questions into six components. One domain refers to oral health status and importance of dental aesthetics, while the other refers to specific job-seeking elements. In a second stage we applied the questionnaire on 800 participants from the same population of reference. Women, people who intended to change jobs, those younger than 40 years old, having health insurance, and higher educational level showed statistically significant higher scores than their counterparts (p<0.001). We developed a tool that enables evaluating the impact of self-perceived oral health on expectations of getting a job for adults seeking emergency care in a dental clinic.

Health is currently recognized as lying in the individual process rooted in genes, personal habits, the social model and the understanding of the ideological standpoint from which it is viewed. The aim of this study was to validate the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) for use in Latin American communities, in order to demonstrate its efficacy for determining the impact of dental condition on children under 5 years of age and their families. The ECOHIS explores two domains: impact on children (9 questions) and on families (4 questions). Validation in Spanish was done in four stages. Stage I included translation and back-translation of the questionnaire (English-Spanish-English). Stage II was a pilot test on families in Venezuela to test stability (test-retest) and make semantic adjustments. Stage III included validation of the questionnaire applied to a Venezuelan sample (n=50) and two Argentine samples (A and B, made up of families with and without social risk, respectively; n=95), and consisted of statistical analysis to check the questionnaire's internal consistency and discriminant capacity. In the final stage, parents were given feedback on the results and significance of each domain in the questionnaire. From the results of this study it may be concluded that the Spanish version of the ECOHIS was reliable and valid for administering to populations with homogeneous social risk, and that parents without social risk factors (AC/B) have significantly greater perception of the impact of oral health on the family's quality of life. The trends recorded suggest that (a) larger samples should be used, including variables for diagnosing social vulnerability or general risk, (b) the association with dental condition should be established by applying indicators to discriminate distinct cut-off points in the dental caries process and (c) it should be ascertained whether there are changes in perception of the impact on quality of life before and after dental treatments, including impact on general health condition.

En la actualidad se reconoce que la salud esta en el proceso individual enraizado en los genes, los habitos personalisimos, el modelo social y la comprension de la ideologia de la cual depende en realidad el angulo desde el cual se la examina. El objetivo de este estudio fue validar el Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) para su aplicacion en comunidades latinoamericanas, a fin de demostrar su eficacia para determinar el impacto que el estado dentario produce sobre los ninos menores de 5 anos y su familia. El ECOHIS explora dos dominios: el impacto sobre el nino (9 preguntas) y sobre la familia (4 preguntas). Para la validacion en el idioma espanol se desarrollaron cuatro etapas. La etapa I: incluyo la traduccion reversa del cuestionario (inglés-espanol.ingles). La etapa II consistio en la prueba piloto realizada en familias venezolanas para comprobar la estabilidad (test-retest) y realizar el ajuste semantico. La etapa III incluyo la validacion del cuestionario aplicado en una muestra venezolana (n=50) y en dos muestras argentinas (AC/A y AC/B, constituidas por familias con y sin riesgo social, respectivamente; n=95), realizándose el analisis estadistico para comprobar la consistencia interna y la capacidad de discriminacion del cuestionario. En la ultima etapa se realizo la devolucion de la informacion a los padres acerca de los resultados y del significado de cada uno de los dominios del cuestionario. Los resultados obtenidos en el presente estudio permiten concluir que la version en espanol del ECOHIS resulto confiable y valida para su aplicacion en poblaciones con riesgo social homogeneo y que los padres sin factores de riesgo social (AC/B) muestran una percepcion significativamente mayor del impacto que el estado bucodental determina sobre la calidad de vida de la familia. Las tendencias registradas permiten recomendar la conveniencia de (a) ampliar el tamano de las muestras aplicadas en este estudio, incorporando variables que instalen el diagnostico de factores de vulnerabilidad social o de riesgo generales (b) establecer la asociacion existente con el estado dentario empleando indicadores que permitan discriminar puntos de corte diferenciados en el proceso de caries dental y (c) estudiar la existencia de cambios en la percepcion del impacto sobre la calidad de vida antes y despues de los tratamientos odontologicos incluyendo el impacto sobre el estado de salud general.