Summary
The Quality of Life Associated with Malocclusions (CVAM) is a specific measure that evaluates the impact of malocclusions on the Quality of Life Related to Oral Health (OHRQoL). The relationship between CVAM and age and sex is not clear and has not been studied in Chile. The objective of this research was to determine the level of CVAM in children between 10 and 16 years of age, in the Araucanía region and determine if there are differences according to age and sex. A cross-sectional and inferential study was carried out with stratified probabilistic sampling with proportional allocation. In this study 306 subjects between 10 and 16 years old were randomly selected from schools in the Araucanía region. The Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire was applied. Descriptive analysis, shape measurements and non-parametric Chi-Square test were performed to determine association between variables. For statistical analysis, the IBM SPSS Statistics program (version 23.0) was used. P < 0.05 was chosen threshold for significance. The level of CVAM in children between 10 and 16 years of age in the Araucanía region was bad (34 %). Men had a good CVAM (29.7 %), women had a bad CVAM (38.9 %) (significant difference). Adolescents (14-16 years) presented a poor CVAM (43.2 %), while children (10-13 years) presented a medium CVAM (28.8 %) (significant difference). Women present a worse CVAM, which may be associated with the social beauty standards assigned to this group; likewise, adolescents, while they are older, present worse CVAM, associated with the psychological process of selfawareness involved during adolescence.
KEY WORDS: quality of life associated with malocclusions, quality of life related to oral health, quality of life, malocclusions, orthodontics, children and adolescents.
How to cite this article
JEREZ-DAZA, A.; NAVARRO-CÁCERES, P. & SANDOVAL-VIDAL, H. P. Quality of life level associated with malocclusions in children and adolescents from La Araucanía Region, Chile. Int. J. Odontostomat., 18(3):271-275, 2024.
