Objective: To compare the orthodontic treatment need amongst 13 – 14 year-old schoolchildren using the Dental Health Component (DHC) and Aesthetic Component (AC) of the IOTN with the children's perceived need for orthodontic treatment.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 700 schoolchildren attending 8 secondary schools in Jempol District. A multi staged and stratified random sampling was employed. Children's normative need was assessed using the DHC and AC of the IOTN by a trained researcher while their perceived needs were matched by using the photograph on the AC scale.
Results: The normative need according to the DHC was 27.1% as indicated by the need treatment category while the AC indicated 21.9%. About 97% of the schoolchildren agreed with the dentist that they did not require treatment. In contrast, only 12.4% agreed with the dentist that they need treatment based on their AC scores. No significant difference was found between gender or ethnicity with the children's perceived need (p>0.05). For both DHC and AC of dentist, the Chinese had the highest need for treatment followed by the Malays and Indians (p > 0.05)
Conclusions: Perceived need among schoolchildren in certain population is low compared to the normative need. Therefore,evaluation of perceived need is useful in any treatment priority assessment in decision making for orthodontic services.
Keywords: IOTN, normative need, perceived need
Funded by Grant No.P0200/2006C, University of Malaya and approved by the Ethical Committee, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya