Má oclusão, necessidade de tratamento ortodôntico e qualidade de vida em escolares de 12 a 15 anos

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of severe malocclusion, the type of orthodontic treatment required and the impact of severe malocclusion on the quality of life of schoolchildren aged 12 to 15 years. A cross-sectional survey was carried out, whose sample, of the probabilistic type by conglomerates, was composed of 391 elementary school students, from public schools in the city of Campina Grande/PB. Data were collected by three trained examiners (inter-examiner Kappa values greater than or equal to 0.96 and intra-examiner values greater than or equal to 0.97), using as data collection instruments a sociodemographic questionnaire that contained information related to the student (gender, age group, ethnicity, visit to the dentist and self-perception of poorly positioned teeth) and parents/guardians (maternal education, monthly family income and receipt of social benefits). Malocclusion and need for treatment were assessed by the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI), while Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) was analyzed by the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP). The data were entered into the IBM SPSS software (version 24.0 for Windows, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and descriptive and bivariate data analysis was carried out (Pearson's Chi-square and Fisher's Exact Tests). Poisson Regression, with a significance level of 5%, was also used. Among the students evaluated, 50.4% were male, the majority were aged between 12 and 13 years old (68.8%), belonged to non-white ethnic groups 74.7%, had a history of visiting the dentist (75.7%) and reported noticing poorly positioned teeth (65.2%). There was a predominance of the group of mothers who had eight or more years of education (58.0%), lived with a monthly family income of up to one minimum wage (61.9%), received social benefits (53.6%) and were inserted in non-nuclear family arrangements (59.0%). The prevalence of severe malocclusion was 37.6% and the need for mandatory treatment reached 19.7% of adolescents. However, severe malocclusion was 8.4% (RP=1.08; 95%CI=1.48-2.29; p=0.034) higher among adolescents aged 12 to 13 years and 11.2% (RP=1.11; 95%CI=1.43-2.06; p=0.020) higher among those who noticed their teeth were poorly positioned. The impact on OHRQoL quality was approximately 74% greater in females (RP=1.74; 95%CI 1.40-2.15), 50% greater when they noticed their teeth were poorly positioned (RP=1.50; 95%CI 1.24-1.81) and 24.3% higher in the non-nuclear family arrangement (PR=1.24, 95%CI 1.01-1.53). However, there was no association between severe malocclusion and OHRQoL (p=0.686). The prevalence of severe malocclusion was high, especially among younger adolescents and those who noticed their teeth were poorly positioned. OHRQoL was not influenced by the occurrence of severe malocclusion, but rather by gender, self-perception of poorly positioned teeth and type of family structure.