Assessment of the need and demand for orthodontic treatment in 13- to 14-year-old students in Kermanshah, Iran in 2012

Awareness of the need of the society for orthodontic treatments is of great importance for the comprehensive health planning and dental insurance purposes. The objective of the present study was to determine the need and demand for orthodontic treatment in 13to 14-year-old students in Kermanshah, in 2012.In this cross-sectional study, 600 13to 14-year-old students of either gender of Kermanshah city were selected and included in the study using random cluster sampling method. The need for orthodontic treatments was assessed based on the Dental Health Component (DHC), Aesthetic Component (AC), and Index Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). The demand for treatment was analyzed through a questionnaire. The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS software (ver. 16.0) by applying the Mann-Whitney U and Exact Fischer tests. Totally, 27.9% of the students were in great or intense need of orthodontic treatments. There was no significant relationship between the need for orthodontic treatments and gender (P> 0.05). The demand rate for orthodontic treatment was 19.8%. There was no significant difference between boys and girls in terms of variables of occlusion, satisfaction with dental appearance, difficulty with chewing or biting food, satisfaction with speaking and demand for orthodontic treatment (P> 0.05).While the absolute need for orthodontic treatment was 27.9%, only 19.8% of the sample demanded for receiving such treatment. In the present study, 13to 14-year-old students of Kermanshah who were studying at public schools were receiving fewer health care services. Actions should be taken for treatment of dental conditions in order to prevent higher costs of complicated orthodontic treatments which arise from not diagnosing the condition at appropriate time.