Orthodontic care, though essential for functional and psychosocial health, often imposes a considerable socioeconomic burden on patients and families, especially in low- and middle-income countries. To quantify this multidimensional burden, a reliable and culturally relevant assessment tool is needed. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed through literature review and expert consultation. Face and content validity were established by a panel of five experts. Forty people from Wardha and Mumbai participated in the tool's pilot test. Cronbach's alpha was used to measure internal consistency, and intraclass was used to measure test-retest reliability Correlation coefficients (ICCs). Construct validity was confirmed via Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and criterion validity was assessed against self-rated burden scores. The questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.89) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.91). PCA identified five meaningful components explaining 72.5% of the variance. Significant relationships were observed between criterion validity and perceived burden scores. (p < 0.001). The validated trilingual questionnaire is a reliable and comprehensive tool for assessing the socioeconomic impact of orthodontic treatment in diverse Indian populations and is ready for use in large-scale epidemiological studies.
