ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT NEEDS IN MIXED DENTITION – FOR CHILDREN OF 6 AND 9 YEARS OLD

Early identification of a developing malocclusion and initiation of simple orthodontic therapy procedure represent ways to prevent or reduce the number of late orthodontic treatments, which can be complex, lengthy and costly. We aimed to assess the need for interceptive therapy of dentomaxillary anomalies on a group of 147 children, 69 of age 6 years old and 78 of age 9 years old, which called for an orthodontic or pedodontic treatment during 2014- 2015 in 4 private offices in Craiova. We observed a high prevalence of caries in temporary and young permanent dentition (52.98% for age 6 years old and 37.17% for age 9 years old) and of early loss of temporary teeth (17.39% for age 6 years old and 23.07% for age 9 years old). The need for orthodontic treatment was high or very high for 10.13% of the children age 6 years old and 24.35% of the children age 9 years old, and small or moderate for 13.03% of children age 6 years old and 33.33% of the children age 9 years old. IOTN can be a valuable tool in identifying, planning and interception of potential dentomaxillary malocclusions