Severe malocclusion negatively impacts adolescents' quality of life

Abstract

Aim: To assess the impact of severe malocclusion on adolescents’ oral health- related quality of life (OHRQoL). Methods: This study consisted of a sample of 117 adolescents between 11 and 12 years, who answered the Brazilian version of the short form of the Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ11-14). This questionnaire has 16 items distributed equally across four domains: oral symptoms (OS), functional limitations (FL), emotional well-being (EW) and social well-being (SW). Higher scores indicate a greater negative impact on OHRQoL. Malocclusion was evaluated using the Dental Aesthetic Index. Adolescents were assigned to the following categories: no or slight malocclusion, defined malocclusion and severe  alocclusion. Descriptive analysis, the Kruskal Wallis test, post hoc test, univariate and multivariate logistic regression were conducted. Results: Individuals with severe malocclusion presented significantly higher scores than those with no or slight malocclusion for the EW (p=0.001), SW (p=0.027) and for the overall CPQ11-14 score (p=0.015). Adolescents with severe malocclusion showed a 2.63 greater chance of presenting a high negative impact on OHRQoL than those with no or slight malocclusion regardless of the confounding variables (CI=1.07–6.45, p=0.035). Conclusion: Severe malocclusion negatively impacts adolescents’ OHRQoL.