Oral health-related quality of life of adolescents assessed with the Malocclusion Impact and Child Perceptions questionnaires.

INTRODUCTION

Our study objectives were to evaluate the impact of malocclusion on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) of adolescents aged 11-14 years in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

METHODS

Two hundred adolescents completed the Child Perceptions Questionnaire: Impact Short Form (CPQ-ISF:16) and the Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire (MIQ). The Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need scale was used to determine malocclusion severity. The effect of sex, age, and socioeconomic class on OHRQOL were determined with the Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, correlation tests, and multiple regression analysis using SPSS (version 22.0; IBM, Armonk, NY). Statistical significance was set at P <0.05.

RESULTS

The CPQ-ISF:16 and MIQ identified the impact of malocclusion on OHRQOL with mean (standard deviation) scores of 12.85 (10.17) and 8.33 (7.50), respectively. Sex, socioeconomic class, and malocclusion severity had no significant effect on OHRQOL (P >0.05); however, OHRQOL differed significantly between the age groups (CPQ-ISF:16, P = 0.002; MIQ, P = 0.041). Multiple regression analysis showed that age was a significant predictor of OHRQOL determined with CPQ-ISF:16 (standardized coefficients B score = -0.242, P = 0.001). MIQ demonstrated good criterion validity with CPQ-ISF:16 (r = 0.59, P <0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Both measures CPQ-ISF:16 and MIQ identified the impact of malocclusion on the OHRQOL of adolescents. Sex, socioeconomic class, and malocclusion severity did not affect OHRQOL; however, age was a significant predictor of OHRQOL. Further studies among orthodontic patient populations are desirable.