Awareness of malocclusion and desire of orthodontic treatment in 18-year old Swedish men

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Abstract
The awareness of a person of any dentitional or occlusal anomaly and his desire to receive orthodontic treatment was studied in a group of 18-year old men in whom such anomalies had previously been diagnosed by an orthodontist. The desire for treatment and awareness of the anomalies were studied from answers to questions bearing on the state of the teeth and occlusion. About 16% of the men had received earlier orthodontic therapy with appliances. Good agreement was found between the actual frequency of individuals with missing teeth and the frequency who reported that teeth had been extracted or were missing for some other reason. The frequency of awareness of dentitional, space or occlusal anomalies, on the other hand, was low, especially for anomalies in the lateral segments. Awareness of anomalies and the desire to receive orthodontic treatment were equally frequent for anomalies in the upper and lower jaws, but varied somewhat with type of anomaly. Only 4% of the individuals thought that they needed orthodontic treatment although as many as 60% were judged by the orthodontist to be in need of such treatment, and in half of these individuals the need was considerable.

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