Impact of orthodontics on the psychologic profile of adult patients: a prospective study.

Considerable controversies exist about the psychologic repercussions of malocclusions on affected persons and the positive effect of treatment on patients' body image and self-concept. This report describes a longitudinal prospective study of 40 adult patients with moderate to severe malocclusions who underwent conventional orthodontic treatment. All subjects completed a series of psychological questionnaires at three different measurement intervals: (1) before the start of treatment, (2) 6 months afterwards, and (3) from 1 to 4 weeks after the end of active treatment. For most personality variables including self-esteem, the mean pretreatment values were normal. Mean values of both overall and facial body image were lower than normal and improved significantly after treatment. Overall body image improvement was noticeable from 6 months after the start of treatment, whereas facial body image did not improve until the discontinuation of the orthodontic appliances. Self-esteem did not change over time. Changes in some 16PF factors that deserve further analysis were observed. The positive effect of orthodontics on body image is encouraging but longer follow-up is needed to evaluate the persistence of results and the eventual occurrence of any late changes in self esteem.