Prevalence of malocclusion and its psycho-social impact among 14–18-year-old school going adolescents of Bhubaneswar

• Author Details:   
• Sailaja Panda
• Dharmashree Satyarup ^*
• Upasana Mohapatra

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Introduction: Malocclusion has a substantial impact on both facial appearance and function. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of malocclusion among school-going adolescents in Bhubaneswar, together with its severity level, psychosocial impact and effects of gender and school type.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1800 14–18-year school going adolescents from various private and government schools/junior colleges from the city Municipal Corporation through multistage cluster random sampling. Data regarding prevalence of malocclusion and its severity was obtained using Dental Aesthetic Index and psychosocial impact was measured using Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetic Questionnaire (PIDAQ) Analysis of data was performed through descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by post hoc tests and Pearson correlation.

Results: The overall prevalence of malocclusion was found to be 26.3% with mean DAI score 20.87±8.58. Students in private schools exhibited significantly higher prevalence of malocclusion (p=0.001). The overall mean PIDAQ score was determined to be 35.96±15.71. Mean Social Impact (SI), Psychological Impact (PI), Aesthetic Concern (AC) and PIDAQ scores increased significantly with increase in severity of malocclusion (p=0.001). Malocclusion was found to have a significantly greater psychosocial impact on males than on females (p=0.001), as well as on students in government schools (p=0.001). A weak and positive correlation was observed between mean DAI and PIDAQ scores (r=0.165, p=0.001).

Conclusion: The respondents' psychological wellbeing can be affected by presence and severity of malocclusion. The gender and school type can greatly influence the psychosocial aspects. Public health efforts focused on early prevention and awareness regarding treatment options would help tackle the psycho-social impact.

Keyword: Adolescents, DAI, Malocclusion, Psychosocial impact, PIDAQ