Impact of oral-health-related quality of life and self-esteem on patients with missing maxillary lateral incisor after orthodontic space closure: a single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial.

Background: The maxillary lateral incisor is one of the teeth most likely to suffer agenesis, resulting in spacing between the central incisor and the canine.

Objective: To compare maxillary lateral incisor agenesis with space closure treatment versus non-treatment based on measurements of the self-perceived oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and self-esteem of the participants.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 44 people, aged 17-49 years, with missing lateral incisors were randomly assigned to two groups (n = 22 in each)-a treated group in which the space was orthodontically closed (TG) and a control group that remained untreated (CG). Randomization was performed by a researcher who was not involved in the clinical part of the study. The outcomes were assessed using the Oral Health Impact Profile and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, which were applied before (phase 1) and after (phase 2) the orthodontic treatment in the TG, and at baseline (phase 1) and 12 months after (phase 2) in the CG. All the data were blindly evaluated, supporting the single-blinded design of the study.

Results: All participants finished the randomized controlled trial, and the demographic characteristics were similar between the groups. In phase 1, the levels of self-esteem and OHRQoL at baseline were similar (P = 0.079, P = 0.693, respectively). In phase 2, the self-esteem scores of the CG decreased and the OHRQoL increased (P = 0.005, P < 0.001, respectively), while self-esteem increased in the TG and the OHRQoL decreased (P < 0.001). The CG had lower scores than the TG for self-esteem, but the opposite was observed for OHRQoL (P < 0.001).

Limitations: Information bias may have occurred. Since the questionnaires could not have been applied at the same time in both groups, the time difference between the two assessments may have led to random and systematic error.

Conclusions: The spacing resulting from missing maxillary lateral incisors had a negative impact on the OHRQoL and self-esteem of the participants, while orthodontically closing those spaces had a positive impact on those aspects.

Clinical Trial Registration: This study was not registered.

Protocol: The protocol was not published before trial commencement.