Orthodontic treatment need for Brazilian schoolchildren: A study using the Dental Aesthetic Index

Anderson Barbosa de ALMEIDA, Isabel Cristina Gonçalves LEITE

Objective: To determine the normative orthodontic treatment need among 12-year-old Brazilian schoolchildren, in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and compare with the need as perceived by the children themselves and their parents or caregivers, assessing putative associated sociodemographic factors. Methods: Four hundred and ity one children without a previous history of orthodontic treatment were randomly selected from a population of 7,993 schoolchildren regularly attending the public and private educational sectors of the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Results: The prevalence of normative orthodontic treatment need in 12-year-old children, assessed with the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) was 65.6% (n = 155). The need perceived by the caregivers was 85.6%, and by the children was 83.8%. Only the perception by the caregivers maintained a signiicant correlation with the normative need of treatment when adjusted to the parents’ schooling and economical level (p = 0.023). Conclusions: There is a high prevalence (65.6%) of malocclusion requiring orthodontic treatment in 12-year-old Brazilian schoolchildren. The most prevalent malocclusions in the study were: Crowding, Class II molar relationship and increased overjet. There was no signiicant correlation between the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need – Aesthetic Component (IOTN-AC) related to dental aesthetic perception and the normative treatment need assessed with the DAI.

Keywords: Malocclusion. Prevalence. Health services needs and demand.

How to cite: Almeida AB, Leite ICG. Orthodontic treatment need in Brazilian schoolchildren: A study using the dental aesthetic index. Dental Press J Orthod. 2013 Jan-Feb; 18(1):103-9.

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