Psycho-social impact of malocclusion in adolescents in Kosovo.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychosocial impact of malocclusion, establish its association with the severity of malocclusion and determine the effects of gender and age in such association. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: 400 adolescents aged between 12-15 years were randomly selected. Each participant was examined for malocclusion and categorized according to Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). The Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) was used to assess the psychosocial impact of malocclusion. RESULTS: Significant differences were noted between PIDAQ subscales, and grades of malocclusion assessed by IOTN and DAI (p⟨0.05). Gender differences were noted in Dental Self Confidence (DSC), Social Impact (SI) and Psychological Impact (PI) for the same severity of malocclusion (p⟨0.05). IOTN-DHC predicted the total and subscales of PIDAQ scores. Gender and age were the independent predictive variables of the relationship between the PIDAQ scores and the IOTN-DHC grades for the DSC and AC subscales. Gender independently predicted psychological impact. CONCLUSION: Severity of malocclusion, gender and age were related to impacts on the psychosocial wellbeing of participants. Overall, females and older participants experienced worse psychosocial impact.