Correlation of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (ICON) and Orthodontic-Related Quality of Life in Male Students in Rafsanjan City in 2016: A Descriptive Study

One aspect of quality of life is its association with health promotion. Evaluation of the need for orthodontic treatment is of particular importance and ICON (Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need) is one of the indicators to evaluate this case. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the corelation between the orthodontic treatment need and orthodontic-related of quality of life among male students aged 16-18 years in Rafsanjan city.

This descriptive study was performed on 1077 students selected by multistage random sampling from Rafsanjan schools in 2016. The Orthognathic Quality of Life (OQOL) questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life of students. All students examined based on ICON elements and the results were registered on ICON form. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient.

Quality of life mean and standard deviation was 25.58±10.91 and ICON mean and standard deviation was 32.34±13.55 which both had a significant inverse correlation (p<0.001, r=-0.24).

The results show that different aspects of quality of life can affect the tendency to treat maxillofacial and orthodontic disorders among adolescents and orthodontic treatment has a significant effect on increasing self-esteem and thus on adolescents quality of life.