Prevalence of bullying in orthodontic patients and its impact on the desire for orthodontic therapy, treatment motivation, and expectations of treatment

Purpose This study aims at investigating the prevalence of bullying due to malocclusions in a sample of German orthodontic patients. Thereby, we analyzed the influence of self-reported bullying on initiation, desire and motivation, and expectations of orthodontic therapy. Patients and methods Patients completed questionnaires by themselves in three orthodontic practices ( n = 1020, mean age 11.8 years). The sample was divided into three groups: (1) subjects bullied due to dentofacial features, (2) subjects bullied due to physical features, and (3) non-bullied control group. The effect of bullying on initiation, desire and motivation, and expectation from orthodontic treatment was assessed and compared between these groups. Results Overall prevalence of bullying was 23.7% with male subjects revealing significantly higher values than females ( p