Necessidade de tratamento ortodôntico em adolescentes do Rio Grande do Sul: relação entre autopercepção e necessidade clínica

Objective: to analyze the association between self-perception and clinical need for orthodontic treatment, and to investigate the relationship between the need for orthodontic treatment and the impact on daily activities of eating, smiling, and speaking, in adolescents. Subjects and method: cross-sectional study with 1630 school children aged 15 through 19 years from 36 cities of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The instruments used to determine the need for orthodontic treatment were the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and the Aesthetic Component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). The data were analyzed with the SPSS 21.0 software using Pearson’s chi-square or linear trend chi-square tests and Poisson regression. The significance level was 5%. Results: there was a positive association between IOTN and DAI. The proportion of subjects who perceived the need for orthodontic treatment increased with the recommendation from the dentist. However, most of the adolescents interviewed did not perceive the need for orthodontic treatment. After adjustment, there was an association of malocclusion with the performance of the daily activity of smiling (PR = 2.03) and the gender of school children (PR = 1.28). An association was also observed for the gender of adolescents (PR = 1.23) and paternal level of education (PR = 1.21) with the daily activity of eating. The daily activity of speaking was associated with the paternal level of education (PR = 2.11). Conclusion: there is an association between self-perception of orthodontic treatment and the clinical need. Malocclusion affects the activity of smiling among adolescents, but the same does not occur with the activities of eating and speaking.