The Social Importance of Orthodontic Rehabilitation: Report of a Five Year Follow-Up Study

Abstract

The research tested the assumption that orthodontic treatment might alleviate social discrimination due to malocclusion. Two hundred and fifty-two persons were interviewed approximately five years after finishing orthodontic treatment and compared to sixty-seven persons with untreated malocclusions who were also interviewed to see if there were differences which might be due to orthodontic treatment in social rank variables, courtship, self-concept, and in personality measures. There were small differences, barely statistically significant, in occupational rank but not in social class or educational level, in engagement and marriage but not in other dating patterns, in assessment of personal appearance but not in self-esteem, in anxiety scores but not in extraversion or neuroticism. The relatively small differences do not permit the unequivocal rejection of the possibility that orthodontic treatment makes little or no social difference, perhaps because malocclusion does not often serve as a basis for social discrimination or because the untreated persons compensate in their role performance.