title: Orthodontic treatment complexity and need in a Nigerian teaching hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to assess the orthodontic treatment need and complexity in a major referral orthodontic centre in Lagos, Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre-treatment dental casts of 150 consecutive patients were assessed using the Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need (ICON).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-seven (38%) of the population needed orthodontic treatment. Twenty-five (16.7%) cases were classified as difficult or very difficult, 14.7% moderate and 68.6% belonged to the easy/mild categories. The overall mean ICON score was 43 ± 17.8 SD. There were no significant age or gender differences in the pre-treatment ICON score. There was a significant association (p<0.05) between treatment need and social class: more subjects from the lower social class needed orthodontic treatment than subjects from the higher social class.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than one third of the population had a need for orthodontic treatment, of which close to one fifth were in the difficult to very difficult category. Patients in the lower socio-economic class had greater need for orthodontic treatment than those from the higher class.
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer in Orthodontics/Consultant Orthodontist, Department of Child Dental Health, Faculty of Dentistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos/University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, Nigeria; e-mail: ifeomautomi@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ifeoma Linda
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Utomi
authors.forename: Chukwudi Ochi
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Onyeaso