Prevalence of malocclusion and its psychosocial impact in a sample of Chilean adolescents aged 14 to 18 years old

Malocclusions,also known as alteration or variation of normal occlusion,are very common. the world health organisation (who) places the malocclusions as the third priority after caries and periodontal diseases. malocclusions produce both functional and aesthetic alterations and thus have a psychosocial impact on people's quality of life. the aim was to evaluate the prevalence of malocclusion and its psychosocial impact in a sample of adolescents (14-18 years) from hualqui,chile. the prevalence and psychosocial impact of malocclusion were investigated in 130 students (14-18 years) at san juan bautista high school,hualqui,chile. participants' dentition was evaluated using the dental aesthetic index (dai) and they also completed the psychosocial impact of dental aesthetics questionnaire (pidaq). data were analysed using univariate and bivariate statistics,graphics,and frequency charts. the overall prevalence of malocclusions was 63.8%,and reached 72.7% in 17-year-olds. the combined prevalence of severe and very severe malocclusion was 28.5% in 14-year-olds and 38% in 18-year-olds. there was a low direct correlation between the severity and psychosocial impact of malocclusion (spearman's r = 0.21; pearson's r = 0.014). the high prevalence of malocclusion in this sample indicates that public health strategies aimed at tackling the issue should be implemented.