Prevalence of malocclusion and orthodontic treatment needs in adult patients

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of malocclusion and the orthodontic treatment needs in patients aged 18 to 50 years attending the dental clinics of the State University of Paraíba, Brazil. The sample was composed of 156 patients (65.4% females and 34.6% males). The diagnosis of malocclusion was established by two calibrated examiners (K = 0.71) using the Dental Aesthetics Index (DAI). The Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were used for statistical analysis of the data at 5% significance level. The prevalence of malocclusion was 63.5%. There was statistically significant difference between tooth loss in the anterior region and malocclusion severity (p = 0.000; OR = 21.06 [8.47-53.90]). Half of the patients were not satisfied with their smile, with statistically significant difference between malocclusion severity and satisfaction at smiling (p = 0.015; OR= 2.23 [1.16-4.71]). In conclusion, the prevalence of malocclusions was high, the most frequent being crowding in the incisal segment. One third of the patients presented very severe/incapacitating malocclusion, existing association between malocclusion severity and satisfaction at smiling.