Awareness of malalignment and malocclusion in children and their guardians.

We conducted a survey on the awareness of abnormalities of dentition and occlusion in 1,904 children (0-15 years old) and their guardians (parents, grandmothers, grandfathers and siblings) on their initial visit to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Chiba Hospital, Tokyo Dental College. The location and type of abnormality for which the children and their guardians most commonly sought treatment were crowding of the upper and lower anterior teeth and inverted occlusion. The most common initial triggers for concern were "guardians noticed abnormalities themselves". It seems logical that where malocclusions that children and guardians can easily notice for themselves are present, they are likely to make an early visit to a clinic in the hope of improving the abnormality. We suggest that further effect is made to educate guardians of children with abnormalities of dentition and occlusion on the importance of obtaining treatment.