Self-perceived orthodontic treatment need evaluated through 3 scales in a university population.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the self-perceived orthodontic treatment need in a university population evaluated through 3 scales that used different approaches. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING University dental clinic, Lima, Peru, 2001. MATERIALS AND METHODS Questionnaires that gathered perceptions on dentofacial aesthetic perception and orthodontic treatment need were applied to a randomly selected sample (329) of first year university students (729). Subjects undergoing orthodontic treatment at the time of examination were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN), Oral Aesthetics Subjective Index Scale (OASIS) and a visual analogue scale (VAS) were used. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation test, Kruskall-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used. RESULTS For the AC, 87.5% were in the "without treatment need" category, 10.6% in the "borderline need" category and 1.8% in the "treatment need" category. The mean AC score was 3.02 (+/-1.49). The mean OASIS score was 11.81 (+/-4.84), and the VAS score was 40.16 (+/-18.16). Correlations between the 3 self-assessment scales were moderate (AC-OASIS 0.416, AC-VAS 0.541 and OASIS-VAS 0.457). Gender or previous orthodontic treatment had no influence (p<0.05) on the scales. CONCLUSIONS Differences in the approaches used by each scale to evaluate the self-perception of the aesthetical arrangement of the front teeth may explain the moderate correlation values.