Dental malocclusion among university students and its effect on self-esteem: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Studies on prevalence of malocclusion and self-esteem among young adults are sparse in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to highlight the type of Angle’s malocclusion most commonly prevalent in young adults of International Medical University (IMU) of age 18 to 25 years as well as to assess the social impact of malocclusion in them. Another objective was to identify the young adults’ satisfaction level with the appearance of the teeth and self-perceived orthodontic treatment needs using a questionnaire and to correlate groups of malocclusion with self-esteem. Materials and methods: All 142 subjects were randomly selected from the name list of different cohorts of students in IMU. Study information was provided to the subjects along with the consent form and two questionnaires about global self-esteem (GSE) and social impact of malocclusion. Intraoral clinical examination was performed using disposable mouth mirror, probe and metal ruler in presence of artificial illumination. Angle’s molar relation and other occlusal characteristics were recorded. Results: Angle’s class I malocclusion was most prevalent (48.6%), followed by class III (26.8%), class II (16.2%) and normal occlusion (8.5%). Analysis of variance Anova test showed no significant association between Angle’s malocclusion and GSE with mean self-esteem score of 14.1, 15.5 and 13.8 for class I, II and III malocclusion respectively. Conclusion: The satisfaction with the teeth appearance (0.026) and social impact of malocclusion (0.004) had significant association.