title: Malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need of secondary school students in Nigeria according to the dental aesthetic index (DAI).
abstract: The aims of this study were to measure the distribution, prevalence and the severity of malocclusion and treatment need amongst randomly selected (n = 703) rural and urban Nigerian children aged 12-18 years (mean 14.0 +/- 1.84) using the dental aesthetic index (DAI), and to assess whether malocclusion was affected by age, gender and socio-economic background. Data were collected according to the method recommended by WHO. Most of the children (77.4 per cent) had a dental appearance which required no orthodontic treatment. Over 13 per cent fell into the group where treatment for malocclusion is considered to be 'elective'. However, a substantial proportion (9.2 per cent) of the population had severe to handicapping malocclusion where treatment is 'highly desirable' or 'mandatory'. There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) in DAI scores between age groups, gender and socio-economic background. This study also found that Nigerian adolescents had better dental appearance and less orthodontic treatment need compared with the Caucasian and Oriental populations.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Otuyemi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogunyinka
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dosumu
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Cons
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jenny
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D044466:Asian People; D044383:Black People; D002648:Child; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044465:White People; D014944:World Health Organization