Concern for dental appearance among young adults in a region with non-specialist orthodontic treatment.

With limited orthodontic manpower in an area, treatment resources may be allocated to deal with a restricted number of patients, e.g. those with the most severe malocclusions, or to treat a greater number of patients by letting the specialist supervised treatment delivered by non-specialists. The purpose of the present study was to examine orthodontic concern among young adults in a region where orthodontic treatment was mainly delivered by non-specialists. The material comprised 100 individuals born in 1971 and 1972 (mean age 18.0 years) who were consecutively examined and interviewed during their annual routine dental visits. Forty subjects (19 females, 21 males) had previous orthodontic treatment. In all but four individuals treatment was delivered by general dental practitioners. Impressions for dental study casts and standardized photographs (Polaroids) were taken. The individual's occlusion was classified according to two methods: the Need for Orthodontic Treatment Index (NOTI) and Anterior Occlusal Traits (AOT). Interviews concerning the subjects' perception of their occlusion were performed with the use of questionnaires. From the answers a composite measure representing orthodontic concern was constructed. Awareness of their own dental arrangement was assessed by comparing the respondents' reports with occlusal recordings from the study casts, and by a photo-identification test. Frequencies of NOTI and AOT scores demonstrated that more than 50 per cent of the treated individuals were still assessed to be in need of treatment and exhibited deviations in the anterior region. Furthermore, 30 per cent of the treated subjects expressed concern about their occlusal appearance, and dissatisfaction was generally based on a realistic perception of their own dental appearance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)