Impact of Malocclusion on Quality of Life in Sudanese Dental Students

Amal H Abuaffan,Fatima A Elmahgoub

doi:10.3126/ojn.v5i1.14493

Abstract

Introduction: Both psychological and social factors come to play when analyzing oral health-related quality of life, and recent developments have shown that more focus has been placed on patients’ own perceptions of oral health status and oral health care systems to understand their needs, fulfillment with treatment, and ultimately the perceived overall quality of health systems.Objective: To assess the impact of orthodontic treatment needs on oral health-related quality of life of dental students.Materials & Method: A cross-sectional study was done on a random sample of 100 dental students aged 17-23 years at the University of Medical Sciences & Technology in Sudan. Each subject was assessed for orthodontic treatment need using Dental Health Component (DHC) of Index of Orthodontic Treatment Needs (IOTN). Each subject was given an Oral health-related quality to life questionnaire to complete the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP).Result: The oral health-related quality of life was generally good. Those with ‘definite need for treatment’ showed higher impact on oral health in relation to functional limitation and physical pain, than those who had ‘borderline need’, ‘little need’, or ‘no need for treatment’. Males with ‘borderline’ and ‘definite need for treatment’ generally showed higher impact on oral health than the female counterpart. However, this was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Malocclusion does not seem to affect the oral health-related quality of life to a significant degree.

Highlights

Both psychological and social factors come to play when analyzing oral health-related quality of life, and recent developments have shown that more focus has been placed on patients’ own perceptions of oral health status and oral health care systems to understand their needs, fulfillment with treatment, and the perceived overall quality of health systems
This study aims to answer following questions: do various orthodontic treatment need related to dental health have an impact on oral health-related quality of life, does gender significantly affect the oral health-related quality of life, and is there a difference of Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) scores between genders in relation to Index of Orthodontic Treatment Needs (IOTN)-Dental Health Component (DHC)
It has become widely accepted that assessment of the oral health-related quality of life plays an important role in clinical practice;[3,5,7,17,18,19,20] this is true in the treatment of malocclusion

Summary

Introduction

Both psychological and social factors come to play when analyzing oral health-related quality of life, and recent developments have shown that more focus has been placed on patients’ own perceptions of oral health status and oral health care systems to understand their needs, fulfillment with treatment, and the perceived overall quality of health systems. The quality of life as related to oral health has been defined as: “the absence of negative impacts of oral conditions on social life, and a positive sense of dento-facial selfconfidence” This implies that both psychological and social factors come to play when analyzing oral health-related quality of life.[1] During the past few decades, orthodontics has become of increasing importance amongst various age groups.[2] Because of the great interest and high demand for orthodontic treatment, many occlusal indices have been developed to categorize and prioritize treatment. It was found that the decision to have treatment is not just based on the severity of malocclusion, and on the patient’s desire to improve appearance.[5]

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion