Cognizance of Orthodontic Management among School enrolled Children in Raiwind, Lahore

Abstract

Introduction: Awareness is the state of having knowledge or be cognizant of something. Children between the age of 12 and 16 years would benefit with the knowledge of orthodontic treatment need, because early orthodontic treatment is more favorable and could be beneficial in preventing further malocclusion complications. The aim of this study was to determine orthodontic treatment cognizance among school enrolled children of Raiwind, Lahore.

Methodology: This cross-sectional survey included students of age group 12-16 years in the duration of 02 month at various schools of Raiwind District Lahore. A pre-validated questionnaire was used to assess the cognizance of school children towards Orthodontic management. Data was analyzed through SPSS version 25. Chi-square test (p-value <0.05) was used to assess gender and age based difference in the cognizance. P-value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

Results: Out of 522 school children, only 104 (44% males and 56% females) have information about an orthodontist role and only 92(38%) females knew that orthodontist align teeth. Stratification of data was done for gender and the difference was statistically significant for 7 questions out of 12. Stratification of data was done for age and the difference was statistically significant for 6 questions out of 12.

Conclusions: There is low awareness of the term “Orthodontist” and that they align teeth, among school children of Raiwind. However, bulk of respondents was aware that speech and chewing can be affected by irregular teeth and that the treatment time is long and costly.