Aim: The study was done to evaluate the pain perception, attitude, and personality trait of the patient toward orthodontic treatment.
Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional questionnaire survey, 100 patients were divided into Group 1, 150 (75 males and 75 females) as untreated group and Group 2, 150 as treated group (75 males and 75 females). Evaluation of the patients was done based on pain perception, attitude, and personality trait. Set of questionnaire was used to assess attitude and pain perception on visual analog scale. The data were tabulated, and statistical evaluation was done using statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, (Version 21.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) using t-test and Tukey's test.
Results: The mean pain perception for Group 1 was 4.8 ± 1.30 and 4.17 ± 1.58 in Group 2; the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.26). The mean value for attitude in Group 1 was 3.57 ± 1.21, and in Group 2, it was 3.39 ± 1.60 (P = 0.09). There was statistically significant difference in pain perception between low (L) level to high level (H) neuroticism (P = 0.009). There was significant difference (P = 0.021) in pain for conscientiousness from very low to very high levels which is directly proportional.
Conclusion: The present study indicated that attitude, personality traits, and pain perception have a definite role in patient cooperation and success of orthodontic treatment.
Keywords: Attitude; orthodontics; pain perception; personality; treatment.