A psychological study

Hamidreza Jamilian, Mehri Jamilian, Alireza Darnahal, Abdolreza Jamilian, Letizia Perillo. A psychological study of people who seek orthodontic treatment: Comparison with untreated controls. APOS Trends in Orthodontics, January 2015, Vol 5, Issue 1

Abstract

Objective: Improvement in appearance is an important motivation for orthodontic treatment; nevertheless, not all patients with malocclusion seek treatment; therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the psychological state of patients with moderate to severe malocclusion who seek orthodontic treatment with patients who suffer from similar malocclusion but do not seek treatment.

Materials and Methods: Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-2 questionnaire which assesses psychological states of people were given to 100 subject with moderate to severe malocclusion who were undergoing orthodontic treatment and 100 subjects with similar malocclusion who did not request orthodontic treatment. All subjects had similar demographic variables. Clinical scales measured by the test included: Hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, and hypomania. The questionnaire consisted of 71 questions, and the subjects had to mark “True” or “False” in response. The scores were transformed into T-scores by a trained psychologist. The results were evaluated by independent t-test.

Results and Conclusion: The results of the test showed that both treated and untreated subjects were in similar psychological state and were psychologically normal; therefore, it is likely that other factors affect patients’ willingness for seeking orthodontic treatment rather than their psychological state.

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