Malocclusions and its Psychosocial Impact in Intercultural High-School Students

Cartes-Velásquez, Ricardo; Araya, Eric & Valdés, Carolina

Summary

Malocclusions are regarded as the third oral disease with most prevalence and impact in the world, despite this there are few studies in Chile that address the issue and consider their impact on the quality of life and relationship to specific population groups. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and psychosocial impact on young people studying in a high school with indigenous people. We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study in 129 students, 73.6% pehuenche, of Ralco High-school; Dental Aesthetic Index was used to quantify the malocclusion magnitude and a Selfimage Questionnaire for assessing psychosocial aspect. The results show a prevalence of 67.4% and 21.7% for disabling malocclusions level, was significantly higher in pehuenche and rural population, this values are over national and international statistics. More than half of youngs have troubles to relating with their peers to cause of malocclusion. This requires the implementation of preventive and curative strategies providing a solution to this problem. KEY WORDS: malocclusion, dental aesthetic, self-esteem, psychosocial, indigenous.

How to cite this article

CARTES-VELÁSQUEZ, R.; ARAYA, E. & VALDÉS, C. Malocclusions and its psychosocial impact in intercultural highschool students. Int. J. Odontostomat., 4(1):65-70, 2010.