Impact of Malocclusion on Adolescents' Quality of Life: Case-control Study

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of malocclusion on adolescents' quality of life.
Methods: A case control study with adolescents between 11 and 12 years from Belo Horizonte, Brazil was conducted. Adolescents' quality of life was assessed by means of the short form of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ_11-14). The CPQ_11-14 consists of 16 questions distributed equally across four subscales: oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional well-being and social well-being. The overall CPQ_11-14 score is given by the sum of the 16 questions' scores. A higher score denotes a greater negative impact on quality of life. Scores for the subscales are also possible. To determine the groups (case or control) to which adolescents would belong, the median of the overall CPQ_11-14 score was calculated. Adolescents with an overall CPQ_11-14 score higher than the median were assigned to the case group (High Impact). Adolescents with an overall CPQ_11-14 score lower than the median were assigned to the control group (Low Impact). Malocclusion was evaluated by means of the Dental Aesthetic Index, which was categorized as follows: mild malocclusion, definite malocclusion and severe malocclusion. Adolescents' sex and age and family income were also recorded. Descriptive analysis, Kruskal-Wallis test, univariate and multivariate regression were conducted. The Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Minas Gerais approved the study.

Results: Fifty two participants were male and 65 were female. Adolescents' mean age was 11.5 years (±0.50). Individuals with severe malocclusion presented higher scores than those with mild malocclusion for the emotional well-being (p=0.001), social well-being (p=0.027) and for the overall CPQ_11-14 score (p=0.015). The regression showed that adolescents with severe malocclusion showed a 2.63 greater chance of presenting a high negative impact on quality of life than their peers with mild malocclusion (CI=1.07–6.45, p=0.035).

Conclusions: Severe malocclusion negatively impacts adolescents' quality of life.