Awareness and concern about malocclusion among 12-15 year-old children in Moshi, Tanzania.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To assess awareness and concern about malocclusion in 12-15 year-olds in Moshi, Tanzania.

DESIGN:
A cross-sectional study.

SETTING:
Moshi Municipality in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.

SUBJECTS:
Two hundred and ninety eight randomly selected Public primary school children aged 12-15 years (158 males and 140 females).

RESULTS:
About 56% of the respondents thought their teeth were properly aligned. However only 29.1% of the respondents reported being dissatisfied with the way their teeth appeared in their mouth. About 25% of the respondents found their teeth to have been worse than most of their age-mates. Children who reported to have been teased due to their malocclusion comprised 25.8%. Those who thought it was unpleasant to stay with malaligned teeth constituted 55.7% of the respondents. Subjective orthodontic treatment need was reported by 69.1% of the sample. Majority of the children (75%) were ready to accept orthodontic treatment. There were significant correlations between factors of awareness and those of concern about malocclusion among the subjects.

CONCLUSIONS:
In spite of very little orthodontic treatment exposure in this population, awareness and concern about malocclusion was reported by a significant proportion of the children. These findings form a baseline line for future studies on the trends of awareness and concern towards malocclusion in this population. They will also be useful in the planning of orthodontic services in Tanzania.

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Author information

Author/s: Rwakatema, D S (DS); Ng'ang'a, P M (PM); Kemoli, A M (AM);

Affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College, Tumaini University, P.O. Box 3010, Moshi, Tanzania.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: East African medical journal (East Afr Med J), published in Kenya. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Apr; vol 83 (issue 4) : pp 92-7

Dates: Created 2006/07/25; Completed 2006/11/27;

PMID: 16863004, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Health Services Needs and Demand
Humans
Male
Malocclusion - epidemiology; psychology; therapy
Orthodontics, Corrective - psychology
Patient Satisfaction
Tanzania - epidemiology

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