PARENTS VIEWS ON THEIR OWN CHILDS DENTITION COMPARED WITH AN ORTHODONTISTS ASSESSMENT

A questionnaire was sent to the parents of 261 7-8-year-old children, asking their views on their own child's dental appearance and function , their own dental appearance, history of orthodontic treatment in the family, and the best age for starting orthodontic treatment for child ren. Parents' opinions were compared with an orthodontist's assessment of treatment need. Parents' anxiety about their child's dentition coi ncided in 60 per cent with the orthodontist's assessment, agreement be ing stronger for malocclusions affecting the anterior teeth. The paren ts regarded the child's dental appearance and function to be good or r ather good in 59 and 53 per cent, respectively, with only a few (7 and 9 per cent) regarding it as poor or rather poor. There was a statisti cally significant association between parents' anxiety and their opini on on the child's dental appearance and function, but no association w as found between their anxiety and opinions on their own dental appear ance. Most parents thought 7-8 years to be the best age for starting o rthodontic treatment. The study indicates that in a dental care system , where children visit their dentist regularly, the parents' awareness of orthodontic problems agrees fairly well with the orthodontist's as sessment of treatment need and the parents also seem to accept the con cept of early treatment.