The Assessment of Personal Awareness of Malocclusion in a Group of 9 to 12 Year Old Children

The aim of this study was to assess personal and parental awareness of malocclusion in children and to examine whether agreement existed between children and their parents on these assessments. 68 patients (32 girls, 36 boys) applied to our clinic were included in this study. Six traits of the anterior segments (maxillary diastemas, upper and lower crowding and protrusions, and overjet were examined on the orthodontic models. The levels of personal awareness were measured with the comparison of the answers of the subjects and the six traits recorded from the orthodontic models. The polaroids of the anterior teeth of subjects were also used on the assessments. The polaroid of a patient was randomly placed in a panel of 17 alternative photographs. Then the subject and parents were asked on separate occasions to identify his or her polaroid in a series of five attempts. A low level of awareness was found for the children and the parents. About half of the children and the parents identified the child's photograph on the second attempt. There were only three subjects who give correct answers to 5 questions while no subjects correctly reported for all six traits. The agreement across the investigators, child, and parental assessments varied for the six traits in the different malocclusions.