cross-cultural adaptation, validation, and reliability assessment of the persian version of the oral behaviour checklist for parafunctional habits in persian-speaking populations

Background: parafunctional oral habits, such as teeth grinding (bruxism) and clenching, significantly affect oral health and are frequently linked to psychological stress and anxiety. the oral behavior checklist (obc), a component of the diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (dc/tmd), is an essential tool for evaluating these habits. however, a validated persian translation of this checklist was previously unavailable. consequently, this study aimed to translate the obc into persian and to assess its reliability and validity through an evaluation of dental students' parafunctional habits.methods: this cross-sectional study involved 270 dental students. the 21-item obc underwent a rigorous translation and validation process, which included initial translation, expert review, back-translation, and achieving consensus. its psychometric properties were evaluated using the content validity index (cvi), cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation coefficient (icc), and exploratory factor analysis (efa).results: the persian version of the obc revealed robust psychometric properties, exhibiting excellent validity (cvi = 0.95) and reliability (cronbach's alpha = 0.67; icc = 0.997). furthermore, the analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between participants' grade point average (gpa) and the occurrence of bruxism, with 45.18% of the subjects reporting teeth grinding or clenching on more than four nights per week.conclusion: the persian version of the obc is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating parafunctional habits among persian-speaking individuals. its utility lies in enhancing both clinical practice and educational strategies aimed at managing these behaviors.