Introduction

Scale of oral health outcomes for five-year-old children (SOHO-5) and early childhood oral health impact scale (ECOHIS) has been validated for Chilean population; however, there is no clarity which scale has a better performance and discriminant validity for caries. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare SOHO-5 (parental version and child’s self-reports) and ECOHIS in a sample of Chilean preschoolers.

Material and methods

121 pairs were selected from the Pablo Neruda School in Curanilahue, Chile. Collection of dmft/DMFT indices, socio-demographic data, and application of instruments were performed in the facilities of the school. Parents answered ECOHIS and SOHO-5p (parental version), and children answered SOHO-5c (child’s self-reports). Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s correlation coefficients were used for statistical analysis.

Results

SOHO-5p and ECOHIS were strongly correlated. Moreover, SOHO-5p and ECOHIS could discrimi­nate between preschoolers with and without severe caries. In contrast, SOHO-5c did not correlated with SOHO-5p, nor ECOHIS. In addition, SOHO-5c could not distinguish between the presence and absence of severe caries among the sample.

Conclusions

ECOHIS and SOHO-5p were both significantly correlated with OHRQoL among preschoolers. However, SOHO-5c did not correlate with any of the variables studied, nor with SOHO-p or ECOHIS. ECOHIS showed a greater discrimination with the oral health status of preschoolers, as measured by the presence of severe caries.