title: Oral health-related quality of life changes in standard, cleft, and surgery patients after orthodontic treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of orthodontic treatment on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) in groups of standard patients with severe malocclusions; cleft lip, cleft palate, or cleft lip and palate patients; and orthognathic surgery patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study sample consisted of 83 consecutive patients undergoing treatment at the orthodontic unit of Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand, divided into 3 groups: 30 adolescents with severe malocclusions; 24 adolescents with cleft lip, cleft palate, or cleft lip and palate; and 29 adults with severe skeletal discrepancies requiring both orthognathic surgery and orthodontic treatment. Each patient completed the Short Form of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) questionnaire before and after orthodontic treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The baseline OHIP-14 subscale scores among the 3 study groups were significantly different, with the surgery patients having nearly twice the OHIP-14 scores of the other 2 groups for nearly half of the items (P <0.05). The surgery patients experienced the greatest reduction in OHIP-14 scores (ie, improvement in OHRQoL), with the largest effect sizes reported for the psychological discomfort (+2.73) and disability (+2.65) domains. The group with clefts experienced the smallest changes in OHIP-14 scores across all 7 domains (-0.03 to +0.63). After adjusting for age and sex, the surgical patients had a significantly greater reduction in pretreatment OHIP-14 scores than did the standard and the cleft patients (P <0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The effect of orthodontic treatment on OHRQoL varies for different patient groups even after adjusting for age and sex. The greatest improvement in OHRQoL occurred in adults with a need for orthognathic surgery, whereas the least improvement seemed to occur in adolescents with cleft lip, cleft palate, or cleft lip and palate.
authors.affiliation: Senior lecturer, Discipline of Orthodontics, Department of Oral Sciences, Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Electronic address: joseph.antoun@otago.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Joseph S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Antoun
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Orthodontic Department, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Peter V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.affiliation: Professional practice fellow, Discipline of Orthodontics, Department of Oral Sciences, Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Hannah C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Jack
authors.affiliation: Professor and chair, Discipline of Orthodontics, Department of Oral Sciences, Sir John Walsh Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farella
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D063169:Dentofacial Deformities / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D061326:Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D009909:Oral Health; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000523:psychology*; D056948:Orthognathic Surgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult