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.