Necessity of the orthodontic treatment in students aged 10 to 12 years. Matanzas

Abstract

The detection of dental malocclusions in early ages would avoid their worsening and functional, psycho-social and functional consequences, and also their repercussions on the life quality of many individuals. The purpose of this work was determining the necessities of orthodontic treatment its correspondent care level. The universe was formed by 4 896 children and the sample was integrated by 537 students (49,2 % female and 50.8 % male)  selected through a simple random sampling among students aged 10, 11 and 12 years old belonging to the health care area Milanes, municipality of Matanzas. We applied the Dental Aesthetic Index of orthodontic treatment necessity, adding the criteria of the professional. 36.3 % of the sample showed a mild malocclusion or normal malocclusion, 24 % showed a definite malocclusion, 16.2 % severe malocclusion and 23.5 % a very severe malocclusion.  The professional criteria determined that  27.7 % of the  patients who need the treatment may be attended by the  General Integral Stomatologist to carry out preventive and interceptive measures to avoid  the  worsening of the malocclusions and 59.5 % could be attended by specialists in orthodontics. Most of the studied subjects were identified with defined treatment necessity, very severe and severe, and they need treatment in the health care secondary level.