title: Self-perceived need for dental treatment and related factors. A cross-sectional population-based study.
abstract: This study compared adolescents' self-perceived need for orthodontic treatment with the normative need for such treatment and investigated associations between socioeconomic and demographic variables and self-perceptions of dental malocclusion. This cross-sectional study involved 1015 schoolchildren aged 12-15 years in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil. The following data were collected using a questionnaire and an orthodontic examination card: demographic and identifying data, socioeconomic data, educational levels of family, household income, economic classification criteria, and self-reported skin color behavioral data, and oral health data. Normative occlusal condition was examined using the Angle classification and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI). Data were analyzed using the chi-squared test (to analyze differences in the frequency distribuition of qualitative variables) and Poisson regression (to stimate associations between the perceived need of orthodontic treatment and study covariates), with a 5% significance level. Schoolchildren's self-perceived need for orthodontic treatment was associated with sex (p = 0.022) and the normative need for treatment (p = 0.004). Among socioeconomic, demographic, and oral health variables, only sex [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.15; 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.04-1.28; p = 0.009] and the normative need for orthodontic treatment (PR = 1.19; 95%CI = 1.08-1.32; p < 0.001) were associated with the perception of malocclusion, with female adolescents reporting a greater need for orthodontic treatment. Female adolescents seems to be more sensitive to oral health problems. The results suggest that the DAI score might reflect a self-perceived need for orthodontic treatment and the Angle classification might overestimate the orthodontic treatment need.
authors.affiliation: Centro Universitário do Maranhão, Universidade CEUMA - UNICEUMA, School of Dentistry, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade CEUMA - UNICEUMA, School of Dentistry, Graduate Program in Dentistry, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana Freitas Gomes E
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Centro Universitário do Maranhão, Universidade CEUMA - UNICEUMA, School of Dentistry, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade CEUMA - UNICEUMA, School of Dentistry, Graduate Program in Dentistry, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Erika Barbara Abreu Fonseca
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Thomaz
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade Federal do Maranhão -UFMA, Graduate Program in Collective Health, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Heloiza Viana
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, School of Dentistry, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade Federal do Maranhão - UFMA, School of Dentistry, Graduate Program in Dentistry, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cecília Cláudia Costa
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, School of Dentistry, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade Federal do Maranhão - UFMA, School of Dentistry, Graduate Program in Dentistry, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alex Luiz Pozzobon
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, School of Dentistry, São Luiz MA , Brazil, Universidade Federal do Maranhão - UFMA, School of Dentistry, Graduate Program in Dentistry, São Luiz, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cláudia Maria Coelho
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Alves
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D061326:Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008310:Malocclusion / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009909:Oral Health; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires