Objective: To assess the current evidence of the relationship between malocclusion/orthodontic treatment need and quality of life (QoL).
Materials and methods: Four electronic databases were searched for articles concerning the impact of malocclusion/orthodontic treatment need on QoL published between January 1960 and December 2007. Electronic searches were supplemented by manual searches and reference linkages. Eligible literature was reviewed and assessed by methodologic quality as well as by analytic results.
Results: From 143 reviewed articles, 23 met the inclusion criteria and used standardized health-related QoL (HRQoL) and orthodontic assessment measures. The majority of studies (18/23) were conducted among child/adolescent populations. Seventeen of the papers were categorized as level 1 or 2 evidence based on the criteria of the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. An observed association between HRQoL and malocclusion/orthodontic treatment need was generally detected irrespective of how they were assessed. However, the strength of the association could be described as modest at best. Key findings and future research considerations are described in the review.
Conclusions: Findings of this review suggest that there is an association (albeit modest) between malocclusion/orthodontic treatment need and QoL. There is a need for further studies of their relationship, particularly studies that employ standardized assessment methods so that outcomes are uniform and thus amenable to meta-analysis.