Introduction:

Patients requiring orthodontic treatment reported negative impacts on oral health-related quality of life compared to patients with normal occlusion.

Objective:

To analyze the oral health-related quality of life in patients with different levels of severity of malocclusion attending public dental offices in Paraguay in 2017.

Methodology:

This was a cross-sectional study. Both, the sociodemographic variables, like sex, age, residence, and educational level, and the clinical variables, like diastema, maximum anterior maxillary, and mandibular irregularity, incisal overhang, and anterior crossbite were measured. The Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire was used in its Paraguayan version (OHIP-14Py) and the Dental Aesthetic Index (IED) scale.

Results:

A total of 269 patients were a part of the study. Moreover, 75.1% of them were women. The IED score was 31.4 ± 11.6. An increase in the incisal protrusion (>2 mm) was seen in 52.4% of the patients. Whereas a low frequency of anterior crossbite and open bite were seen in 5.9% and 10.0% of the population, respectively. While conducting an evaluation based on the dimensions, the psychological disability (p = 0.028), social disability (p = 0.034), and handicap (p = 0.552) increased according to the level of severity of malocclusion, being statistically significant in the first two.

Conclusion:

As the severity of the level of malocclusion increases, the oral quality of life decreases for the psychological disability and social disability dimensions.

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