6 research outputs found
Attitudes to Malocclusion in a Nigerian School Population
The aim of this study was to determine attitudes to malocclusion and
orthodontic treatment need among school children in Lagos, Nigeria. The
sample consisted of 120 randomly selected school children, 66 boys
(55%) and 54 girls (45%) aged 10-12 years in Lagos State, Southwestern
region of Nigeria. The study was conducted with a fixed choice
questionnaire and the need for orthodontic treatment was assessed with
the WHO-FDI basic method for recording occlusal traits, 1979. The
results showed that most children (61.7%) were satisfied with their
dental appearance with no significant sex differences while
the10-year-old children expressed significantly higher level of
dissatisfaction with their teeth arrangement (P<0.05). There was an
urgent orthodontic treatment need in 11.7% of the children who had
handicapping malocclusion while treatment was also considered necessary
in 19.2%. The need for orthodontic treatment was significantly higher
in the girls than boys (P<0.05). The half (50%) of the children that
needed professionally determined urgent orthodontic treatment expressed
satisfaction with the arrangement of their teeth. This study revealed a
moderate concern and knowledge of malocclusion among sample of Nigerian
children evaluated with a need for orthodontic treatment in less than
one third