Comparison of knowledge, self-perception about malocclusion and orthodontic treatment need amongst undergraduate dental students

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Perception regarding malocclusion and esthetics is affected by knowledge, age, race, gender, social background, and exposure. This study compares knowledge and awareness of undergraduate dental students regarding malocclusion, its impact on oral and mental health, and students’ self- perceived need for orthodontic treatment.

Material and Methods

A multi-centre cross-sectional study evaluated 424 questionnaires. They were assessed and compared on knowledge, awareness, and self-perception regarding malocclusion. Results were reported in percentages and compared using chi-square test.

Results

Most of the respondents were females, (82.1%). 4th year students were most aware about malocclusion’s effects on caries (86.8%), plaque (98.1%) and gingivitis (85.8%), p-value was significant, 0.000. Mostly, 3rd year students favoured well-aligned teeth, 91.5%, (p = 0.431); 2nd year students mostly, regarded aligned teeth important for esthetics (96.2%) p = 0.042; 4th year students mostly reported self-perceived need for orthodontic treatment, 43.4% (p = 0.048) and thought malocclusion affected one’s self-esteem 86.8% (p = 0.031), acceptance amongst peers 51.9% (p = 0.000) and mental health 52.8% (p = 0.000).

Conclusion

Knowledge and self-perception regarding malocclusion did not have a direct relation with the level of education of the dental students studied.

KEYWORDS:

• Undergraduate dental students
• malocclusion
• knowledge
• self-perception

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

HS: Conception, design, manuscript writing and supervision of data collection and statistical analysis.

RA: Design, supervision of data collection, manuscript writing

MUG: Supervision of data collection, statistical analysis, manuscript writing

AA: Statistical analysis, design, manuscript writing

RS: Data collection, manuscript writing

SAH: Data collection, manuscript writing

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval was taken from Institutional Review Boards of two dental undergraduate institutes.

Informed Consent to participate was taken on a printed (informed) consent form.

All experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations (such as the Declaration of Helsinki).