Orthodontic treatment need of Saudi Arabian children

PLEASE NOTE: This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community: please click Download and log in with a valid BU account to access. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University. Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 1997 (Dental Public Health).Includes bibliographic references (leaves 83-87).The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of malocclusion in Saudi Arabian children, and hence to determine their orthodontic treatment need. The Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) which was developed by Brook and Shaw in 1989 (7), was modified and used accordingly for this study. The IOTN contains two components; the Dental Health Component (DHC) and the Aesthetic Component (AC). Each component grades an individual accordingly to his/her orthodontic treatment need. The modifications (Modified DHC) that were made in this study to the IOTN included the addition of the following: Spacing, midline deviations, functional jaw limitations, bimaxillary protrusions, tooth displacements without space deficiency, facial asymmetries and future surgery. Seventy-five Saudi schoolchildren, aged 10-14 years old were examined. According to the findings of the study, a statistically significant difference between the original DHC and the Modified DHC was found (t-test = 4.161, df=74, p=0.000). When the original DHC was used, the majority of students were in a lower grade level. When the Modified DHC was used, 20.0% of the students moved to a higher grade level, indicating more treatment need. Approximately, 42% of the males and 48% of the females were in grade leve1 4, indicating great need for Orthodontic treatment. The Modified IOTN was also used to determine the most prevalent malocclusal feature present, and according to the results, overbite was determined to be the predominant feature in both males and females (30.3% and 28.6% respectively). This was followed by crowding and functional jaw limitations in both sexes (21.2% & 18.2% in males, 23.8% & 11.9% in females respectively). Explanations of why overbite was the most predominant feature is provided. [TRUNCATED