DENTOFACIAL DISHARMONY - PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS OF PATIENTS SEEKING TREATMENT CONSULTATION

A sample of 194 patients whose dentofacial disharmonies were severe en ough to warrant an orthognathic surgical treatment option completed th e SCL-90-R, a 90-item assessment tool used to measure current level of psychological distress. Two global and nine primary dimension scores of psychological distress were computed. The average interpersonal sen sitivity, psychoticism, and obsessive-compulsive dimension scores were higher than the nonpsychiatric patient population norms for both male s and females, but the confidence intervals for these dimensions were still in the upper end of the normal range of functioning (< 1 SD abov e the normative mean). No statistically significant differences by gen der or age group were observed. Over 15% of the patients were clinical ly elevated on obsessive-compulsive behavior, interpersonal sensitivit y problems, hostility, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism; and 24.7% qualified as a positive diagnosis for a psychiatric disorder. It appea rs that a surprisingly large number of individuals with dentofacial di sharmonies who are seeking treatment consultation are experiencing a l evel of psychological distress that warrants intervention.