title: Malocclusion impacts adolescents' oral health-related quality of life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the hypothesis that malocclusion does not have an independent and negative effect on quality of life of adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional design study comprised a sample of 519 children, aged 11 to 14 years, attending public schools in Osorio, a city in southern Brazil. One calibrated examiner carried out clinical examinations and recorded dental caries (decayed/missing/filled teeth), malocclusion (Dental Aesthetic Index), and dental trauma. Participants completed the Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11-14), Impact Short Form, and their parents or guardians answered questions about socioeconomic status. Simple and multivariate linear regressions were performed to assess covariates for the overall CPQ11-14 scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater impacts on oral health-related quality of life were observed for girls (P  =  .007), children with a lower household income (P  =  .016), those living in nonnuclear families (P < .001), and those with more decayed/missing/filled teeth (P  =  .001). Malocclusion was also associated with oral health-related quality of life: the severity of malocclusion was significantly related to higher scores of CPQ11-14 even after scores were adjusted for control variables. CPQ11-14 increased by approximately 1 point for each increase in the severity of malocclusion.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Malocclusion has a negative effect on adolescents' quality of life, independent of dental caries or traumatic dental injuries. Socioeconomic inequalities and clinical conditions are important features in adolescents' quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Canoas-RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Annarosa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scapini
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Feldens
authors.forename: Thiago Machado
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Ardenghi
authors.forename: Paulo Floriani
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000523:psychology*; D009909:Oral Health; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires