Impact of oral problems on the adolescents` quality of life

Objective: of this study was to investigate the functional and esthetic impact of oral problems on the capacity of adolescents to carry out their daily activities. Methods:We randomly selected 333 individuals, from students in private and public schools, who were representative of the population of adolescents aged between 10 and 14 from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The adolescents were interviewed using a questionnaire which included the Oral Impact on Daily Performances (OIDP) sociodental indicator. For the descriptive analysis of the data the SPSS software version 10.0 was used. Results:It was found that 43.2% of the adolescents reported that their capacity to carry out daily activities was adversely affected due to their oral condition. The aspects most adversely affected were: smiling (31.2%), eating (13%), oral hygiene (10.5%) and changes in emotional state (7.5%). The principal causes of these adverse effects were: dissatisfaction with the appearance of the teeth (28.5%), pain (7.5%) and discomfort (6%). The oral alterations most frequently cited as the specific cause of the negative effects were: inadequate position of the teeth (25.5%), presence of caries (6.3%) and alterations in the color of the teeth (2.1%). Conclusion:For the population studied esthetic and functional alterations in the mouth adversely affected the performance of adolescents in their daily activities. Aspects related to dentofacial esthetics had greater repercussions than those related to oral health and the oral function.