Impact of wearing fixed orthodontic appliances on oral health-related quality of life among Brazilian children

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among Brazilian children.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: The Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Participants: Sample of 579 children aged 11–14 years. The children were divided into two groups: wearing (n = 160) and not wearing (n = 419) a fixed orthodontic appliance.

Methods: A clinical examination was performed by a single examiner to determine whether or not a fixed orthodontic appliance was worn, the presence of a malocclusion using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and cavitated carious lesions. The impact of wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance on OHRQoL was measured using the short form of the Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ_11–14). Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, Mann–Whitney test and univariate/multiple logistic regression.

Results: The total CPQ_11–14 score revealed a more frequent impact among children who wore a fixed orthodontic appliance than those who did not (P = 0·002). Similar findings were observed for the FL (P = 0·005), EWB (P = 0·006) and SWB (P = 0·003) subscales. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the score on the OS subscale (P = 0·124). While females were 1·76 times more likely to have a worse OHRQoL than males, the use of a fixed orthodontic appliance was also significantly associated with a greater chance (OR = 1·60; CI = 1·11–2·33) of impacting OHRQoL when both variables were inserted together in the regression model.

Conclusion: Children wearing a fixed orthodontic appliance had significantly worse OHRQoL compared with a control group with no malocclusion and not wearing a fixed appliance.

Keywords:

• Children
• oral health-related quality of life
• orthodontic appliances

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Brazilian fostering agencies the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Ministry of Science and Technology and the State of Minas Gerais Research Foundation (FAPEMIG).