Does orthodontic treatment affect patients' and parents' anxiety levels?

The aims of this study were (1) to determine and compare the anxiety levels of two groups of patient and parents, (2) to identify possible gender differences between male and female subjects and (3) to evaluate any changes in anxiety levels after 1 year of treatment. The first group consisted of 40 subjects with a mean age of 15.6 +/- 1.2 years awaiting orthodontic treatment, plus one parent of each subject (mean age 43.4 +/- 2.3 years). The second group comprised 43 patients with a mean age of 16.0 +/- 1.1 years who had been undergoing treatment for a period of 1 year, plus one parent of each patient (mean age 41.0 +/- 1.9 years).Personal information forms and Spielberger's 'State and Trait Anxiety Inventory' (STAI) were applied to both groups. To compare the two groups and to determine the differences between males and females, independent-sample t-tests were used. Internal consistencies for the two scales of the STAI were evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Trait anxiety levels of parents (51.05 +/- 5.1) and state anxiety levels of subjects (58.57 +/- 6.73) who were about to start orthodontic treatment were both high. The difference between the groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In patients who had undergone treatment for 1 year, the scores were found to be normal (43.28 +/- 5.91). However, their parents' high levels of trait anxiety remained unchanged (50.41 +/- 4.2).