Perceived aesthetic impact of malocclusion and oral self-perceptions in 14-15-year-old Asian and Caucasian children in Greater Manchester

The aims of this study were to evaluate (i) the effect of ethnicity, social deprivation, and normative orthodontic treatment need on orthodontic aesth etic self-perception, self-perceived need for orthodontic treatment, and or al aesthetic impact of malocclusion; (ii) the effect of ethnicity, social d eprivation, and gender on perceived orthodontic treatment need and use of o rthodontic services; (iii) the influence of perceived oral aesthetic impact of malocclusion on perceived need and wish for orthodontic treatment; and (iv) whether orthodontic treatment experience i influences perceived oral a esthetic im pact of malocclusion. A stratified, random sample of 434 14-15-year-old children from schools in Manchester, UK, was obtained. Information was collected on orthodontic aest hetic self-perception and orthodontic treatment experience using a question naire. The former data were combined to form an Oral Aesthetic Subjective I mpact Scale (OASIS). Normative orthodontic treatment need was measured with the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). Children with higher clinical need for orthodontic treatment perceived them selves as worse off than their peers with lower need. More socially deprive d children or those with high IOTN aesthetic component (AC) scores had a hi gher (i.e, more negative) aesthetic impact (OASIS) score. Asians and female s had higher IOTN dental health component (DHC) scores, but a better aesthe tic appearance than Caucasians and males. More deprived children were less likely to have received orthodontic treatment. Despite this, OASIS scores w ere similar between treated and untreated children. Untreated children who wished for orthodontic treatment had higher IOTN AC and OASIS scores.