Psychological impact of Dental Aesthetics for Kurdish adolescents seeking orthodontic treatment

Aim: the main goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between Kurdish orthodontic patients’ severity of malocclusion and their social and psychological impact. Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of ۱۰۰ patients, ۴۵ males and ۵۵ females, aged ۱۳–۲۲ years. A translated pre-tested questionnaire [Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire PIDAQ] was used to assess the subjects’ social and psychological impact by their occlusal irregularities; the actual severity of malocclusion was determined using the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) on ۱۰۰ stone study models. Statistical analysis was carried out using chi-square test for assessing the associations, Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients used for assessing correlations. Analysis of variance and multiple regression tests were also carried out to complete the statistical analysis. Results: of the multiple regression analysis showed that not only DAI score were significantly associated with higher score of PIADQ but other factor like Gender was a significant variable in predicting the psychosocial impact of dental esthetics, while age was not significantly associated with PIADQ scores. Conclusion: there was significant weak positive correlation between DAI score and PIADQ scale of the study sample at p<۰.۰۰۵.

Keywords:

Psychological impact , Dental Aesthetics , Kurdish adolescents , Orthodontic Treatment