Development and Validation of the Latvian Version of the Orofacial Esthetic Scale in Dental Patients with Aesthetic, Functional and No Treatment Needs

<i>Background and Objectives</i>: This study was conducted in order to develop and validate the Latvian version of the Orofacial Aesthetic Scale (OES-LV) and to assess its psychometric properties in patients with aesthetic, functional or no treatment needs. <i>Materials and Methods</i>: The English version of the OES was translated into Latvian following international guidelines for establishing cultural equivalency of instruments. The test group consisted of 101 subjects comprised of those without treatment requirement, with functional impairment (tooth loss) and with aesthetic treatment needs. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent validity were investigated. Responsiveness was not tested in the current study. <i>Results</i>: The test-retest assessment of this study was performed on 31 subjects and showed intra-class correlation coefficients ranging from 0.80 to 0.81, which was considered to be good. Cronbach's α was 0.91, demonstrating the strong internal consistency of the scale. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients between the OHIP and OES scores varied across subgroups, ranging from -0.35 to -0.57 and showed a negative correlation between OES-LV and selected OHIP items. <i>Conclusions</i>: The Latvian OES demonstrated strong psychometric properties, supporting its use in assessing self-perceived orofacial aesthetics, clinical research, prosthodontic evaluation and dental education. Further studies on responsiveness are recommended.