Orthodontic treatment reduces the impact on children and adolescents’ oral health‑related quality of life.

ABSTRACT

Context Malocclusion is a chronic disability that is usually remedied by orthodontic treatment which can provide the patient with a satisfactory state of oral health. Aim: To assess the current evidence in the literature concerning the impact of malocclusion treatment on the oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children and adolescents. Settings and Design: Systematic review. Materials and Methods: Four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Virtual Health Library) were searched using specified indexing terms, including a manual search for of the references listed in the studies. The articles that met the inclusion criteria were classified regarding methodological quality and risk of bias in categories of high, moderate, or low. Results: The electronic search produced 426 titles and abstracts, and the manual search of their references detected another 1 article. After excluding duplicate abstracts and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 3 studies were eligible for quality assessment. Among these, 1 was classified as high methodological quality/low risk of bias and 2 as moderate methodological quality/moderate risk of bias. These 3 articles were included in the final qualitative synthesis. Conclusions: Malocclusions treatment reduces the impact on children and adolescents’ OHRQoL based on evidence assessed in the literature. The level of evidence was moderate to high to detect changes in the impact after orthodontic treatment.