Malocclusion frequency in Swedish and immigrant adolescents--influence of origin on orthodontic treatment need

Abstract

Sweden has become increasingly multicultural. In the year 2000, almost 25 per cent of the child and adolescent population was of foreign origin. Such a major change in demographics may lead to altered orthodontic treatment need in the community, with implications for planning appropriate levels of orthodontic resources. The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need in 12- and 13-year olds of Swedish and immigrant background. The subjects, n = 493, were stratified into four groups according to family origin: (A) subject and both parents born in Sweden, and subject or at least one parent born in (B) Eastern Europe, (C) Asia, or (D) other countries. Registrations were based on available radiographs, patient records, and a clinical examination. Normative treatment need was based on a number of variables. Treatment need was expressed according to the dental health component (DHC) and aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). Group A exhibited the greatest space deficiencies and irregularities in the maxillary and mandibular anterior segments and also the greatest overjet. More primary molars had been extracted in groups B and C, with a positive correlation between early extraction of primary molars and retention of permanent successors. Self-assessed orthodontic treatment need, IOTN-AC, was highest in group A. For all four groups, the orthodontist's estimate of treatment need was significantly higher than the subjects' self-assessed need. This study confirms that, despite the change in demographics, variations in frequencies of malocclusion and treatment need among children of different cultural background are only minor and the overall orthodontic treatment need remains unchanged.

Objectification of Orthodontic Treatment Needs: Does the Classification of Malocclusions or a History of Orthodontic Treatment Matter?

“…As for the Ackerman-Proffit classification, occlusal anomalies were reported in 75.4% of the subjects, whereas according to Orlik-Grzybowska, this problem concerned 67% of the participants of the study. Pursuant to both classifications, distoclusions were the most frequently diagnosed type of malocclusion, which is consistent with the findings of other researchers, both Polish and international [8][9][10]. In the literature, however, there are differences with respect to frequency of malocclusion.…”

Perception of orthodontic treatment need among Swedish children, adolescents and young adults

“…Moreover, in an untreated sample, the AC-IOTN improved slightly from 11 to 19 years of age [22]. Many studies [6,20,26,36] used self-ranking of dental aesthetics as an indication of selfperceived orthodontic treatment need. Further studies -including normative and self-perceived orthodontic treatment -must be done to identify possible influencing factors and suggest possible measures.…”

“…Criteria for the definition of attractiveness can vary between different communities and influence the thresholds for orthodontic treatment [5][6][7].…”

“…Previous studies investigated the effect of some factors on self-perceived orthodontic treatment need with diverging results [5,6,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Studying self-perceived orthodontic treatment need -in different age groups -allows us to determine the age at which children can evaluate aesthetic malocclusion and realize their need for orthodontic treatment.…”

Prevalence of Malocclusion among School children in Benin City, Nigeria

“…A large number of epidemiological studies have been carried out to determine the prevalence of malocclusion in different racial and ethnic groups and the reported incidences varied in [1][2][3][4][5] different populations.…”