[Comparison of the perception of esthetic and orthodontic treatment need between an African and a Caucasian population].
BACKGROUND
Improvement of dentofacial appearance is often the main motives of patient seeking orthodontic treatment. However perception of aesthetic and orthodontic treatment need may be different among populations of different cultural background. The aim of the present study was to compare the perception of aesthetic and orthodontic treatment need between Caucasian (French) and African (Senegalese)


METHODS
In the present study the perception of the attractiveness of 98 colours photographs of dentitions were assessed by 34 Caucasian and 31 African lay judges by mean of a Power Point presentation. Each slide were displayed for evaluation during 20 seconds


RESULTS
The two populations share the same perception of orthodontic aesthetic with respect to some occlusal traits. However they diverge in their appreciation of 70% of the dentitions with midline diastemas. There were also significant differences in the perception of orthodontic treatment need with the Caucasian judges suggesting treatment more often than Africans.


CONCLUSIONS
The results are discussed in term of accessibility in orthodontic treatment in association with socioeconomic status.
Ngom
P I
PI
Departement d'Odonto-Stomatologie, Faculté de Médecine, Pharmacie et d'Odonto-stomatologie, Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar, Sénégal. ibrahim@refer.sn
Diagne
F
F
Diop Ba
K
K
Niang
A
A
Normand
F
F
D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective; D012675:Senegal; D044465:White People