Dentofacial deformities are associated with lower degrees of self-esteem and higher impact on oral health-related quality of life: results from an observational study involving adults.

Purpose: Patients with dentofacial deformities tend to show poorer oral health-related quality of life, but few studies thus far have focused on this topic. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate oral health-related quality of life, self-esteem, and depression in patients with Class II and Class III dentofacial deformities before orthodontic treatment and to compare these patients with controls with harmonic faces.

Materials And Methods: This observational, cross-sectional study compared 2 groups (experimental vs control) of patients recruited at an outpatient orthodontic clinic. Oral health-related quality of life was assessed using a short form of the Oral Health Impact Profile, self-esteem was evaluated with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and depression symptoms were assessed using the General Hospital Depression Scale (outcome variables). The presence of dentofacial deformities (ie, group allocation) was the primary predictor variable. The χ(2) test and Spearman correlation coefficient were used to analyze data.

Results: The total sample was composed of 68 individuals (34 in each group). In the experimental group, 55.9% of patients were women, and 88.2% presented a Class III occlusal relation. The mean age in the experimental group was 27.56 years. Significant differences were observed between the 2 groups in oral health-related quality of life (P < .001) and self-esteem (P < .019), but no differences were found for depression (P = .161).

Conclusions: Patients with dentofacial deformities had a more negative oral health-related quality of life and a lower self-esteem compared with controls. No association was observed between dentofacial deformities and depression.