Effect of treatment of transverse maxillary deficiency using rapid palatal expansion on oral health-related quality of life in children: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: This trial aimed to longitudinally evaluate the effect of the treatment of transverse maxillary deficiency using rapid palatal expansion (RPE) on self-perceived oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) in children.
Methods: Eighty participants aged 8-10 years with transverse maxillary deficiency and bilateral posterior crossbite were randomly assigned to 2 groups (n = 40 each): a group treated with RPE using hyrax-type appliances and a nontreated control group. OHRQOL was assessed by using the Child Perceptions Questionnaire for 8-10-year-olds at 4 times: before RPE, during RPE (T ₁ ), at the end of RPE (T ₂ ), and 1 month after the appliance removal (T ₃ ). Generalized mixed models were used for data analysis (α = 0.05).
Results: Both groups exhibited similar demographic characteristics and OHRQOL scores at baseline. All participants completed the study. RPE had a time-dependent effect on OHRQOL. At T ₁ and T ₂ , this therapy is expected to increase the overall OHRQOL scores by 1.17 times (ie, ∼17% increase; T ₁ 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.26; T ₂ 95% CI, 1.09-1.27; P = 0.001). In contrast, the overall OHRQOL scores at T ₃ are expected to be 0.28 times the baseline scores (ie, ∼72% reduction; T ₃ 95% CI, 0.26-0.31; P = 0.001). All individual domains of the OHRQOL evidenced a positive impact of treatment at T ₃ (P = 0.001). Only the oral symptoms and social well-being domains showed a significantly negative impact of the treatment at T ₁ and T ₂ .
Conclusions: Correction of the transverse maxillary deficiency by RPE in children aged 8-10 years improves OHRQOL. There is a temporary worsening of OHRQOL during the treatment of this condition using RPE.
Registration: This trial was not registered.
Protocol: The protocol was not published before trial commencement.
Funding: This study was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil, Financing Code 001.
(Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)