Perception of pain, social, and functional discomfort during orthodontic treatment

Introduction/Objective Pain and social discomfort are common experiences after the insertion of a fixed orthodontic appliance. The aim of the study was to determine the intensity of pain during the first seven days after the placement of a fixed orthodontic appliance, the impact of orthodontic treatment on psychosocial component of the patient and daily life activities in the first month of therapy. Methods The study included 60 randomly selected patients from the Department of Orthodontics, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia, aged 15 to 20 years. After the insertion of a fixed orthodontic appliance, the patients were given a questionnaire form comprising questions related to the intensity of pain in the first seven days, function of speech and chewing, oral hygiene, injury of the oral mucosa, and social contacts. For the processing of results obtained from the questionnaire chi(2) test was used. Results The largest percentage of respondents (21.7%) rated pain with grade 1, while less than 10% of respondents gave grades 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Most of the participants (95%) answered that they had no difficulties with daily life activities caused by the fixed orthodontic appliance. Most respondents (91.7%) did not have any social discomfort, while a small percentage (8.3%) said they had these problems. Conclusion General intensity of pain that respondents felt during the first seven days after the placement of a fixed orthodontic appliance was low to moderate. For most of the respondents there was no change in social behavior related to the psychosocial component. Except for changes in dietary habits and sores on the oral mucosa of the cheek in the first month of therapy, examines had no major problems with daily life activities.