This study explored the association between family cohesion and self-perceived need for dental treatment among adolescents. A school-based representative cross-sectional study was conducted with 746 students aged 15 to 19 randomly selected from schools in Campina Grande, Brazil. Parents/guardians provided information on sociodemographic data, and students completed questionnaires about the self-perceived need for dental treatment, dental pain, and family cohesion and adaptability (FACES III). Two dentists were trained (kappa >0.80) to diagnosis dental caries using the Nyvad criteria and assess adolescents’ level of functional oral health literacy (BREALD-30). Descriptive analysis was performed, followed by nonadjusted and adjusted robust binary logistic regression for complex samples (
α
=
5
%
). The prevalence of self-perceived need for dental treatment was 88.6%. The presence of dental caries (
OR
=
2.10
; IC 95%: 1.22–3.61), tooth loss (
OR
=
15.81
; IC 95%: 2.14–116.56), dental pain in the last six months (
OR
=
1.87
; IC 95%: 1.06–3.31), and enmeshed family cohesion type (
OR
=
10.23
; IC 95%: 3.96–26.4) remained associated with the self-perceived need for dental treatment in the final model. In conclusion, dental caries, dental pain, tooth loss, and family cohesion influenced the self-perceived need for dental treatment in adolescents.
Dental pain, oral impacts and perceived need for dental treatment in Tanzanian school students: a cross-sectional study