Objectives:

  To evaluate preadolescent oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) during the first month of fixed orthodontic appliance therapy.

  Design:

 Descriptive study.

 Setting:

  The Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

 Participants:

  This study included a sample of 96 preadolescent children aged between 11 and 12 years undergoing orthodontic treatment with a fixed appliance.

 Methods:

 Preadolescent children were required to answer the short form of the Brazilian version of the Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ11–14) before treatment (T0) and 1 month after placement of the fixed appliance (T1). Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Bonferroni correction for the domains of CPQ11–14.

 Results:

  Out of the 96 patients originally admitted, one gave up the treatment before the placement of bands and one failed to return the second questionnaire (T1). So, a sample of 94 preadolescents participated in this study, with a response rate of 97·9%. Among the 94 participants, 49 were females (52·1 %) and 45 were males (47·9 %). The mean age was 11·5 years (SD = 0·502). There was a statistically significant improvement in emotional well-being domain (P<0·001) as well as in the overall score (P = 0·032). However, there were no significant changes in oral symptoms, functional limitations and social well-being domains (P>0·013) before treatment and 1 month after the placement of fixed appliance.

 Conclusion:

  One month after the placement of fixed orthodontic appliance, the preadolescents had positive alterations in their OHRQoL mainly in the emotional well-being domain.

 Source: Journal of Orthodontics

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