The Impact of Mixed Dentition Malocclusion on the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life for Children and Their Families: A Case-Control Study

• Published in: The Journal of clinical pediatric dentistry Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 211 - 217
• Main Authors: Piassi, Eluza, Antunes, Leonardo Santos, Graça, Tereza Cristina Almeida, Antunes, Lívia Azeredo Alves
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry 2019
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Case-Control Studies; Child; Children & youth; Childrens health; Dental occlusion; Dentistry; Dentition, Mixed; Families & family life; Humans; Malocclusion - complications; Malocclusion - psychology; Oral Health; Oral hygiene; Orthodontics; Parents & parenting; Pediatrics; Physiology; Quality of Life; Questionnaires; Studies; Systematic review; Teenagers; Teeth; mixed dentition; oral health; family; quality of life; malocclusion; child
• ISSN: 1053-4628; 1557-5268
• DOI: 10.17796/1053-4625-43.3.12

The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between malocclusion in mixed dentition and its impact on the oral health-related quality of life OHRQoL of children and their families as well to determine if there were any reported differences in OHRQoL due to malocclusion severity. A total of 144 subjects, which included 70 children (aged 8-10 years) and their parents, were recruited on the basis of predetermined criteria and divided into the following groups: children with malocclusion (case group) and children without malocclusion (control group). The OHRQoL was assessed using the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ ) and the Family Impact Scale (FIS). The severity of malocclusion was assessed using the Dental Aesthetic Index. The specific types of malocclusions (anterior open bite, anterior/ posterior crossbite and overjet) and their severity were considered for the statistical analyses by applying the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, respectively, with a set at p<0.05. The CPQ and FIS scores demonstrated higher impact on OHRQoL in the case group (p<0.01). There were no reported differences in OHRQoL according to the dental aesthetic index severity (p>0.05) and no differences between specific types of malocclusion (p>0.05) Mixed dentition malocclusion impacted the oral-health quality of life for children and their families independently of the severity.