The impact of orthodontic treatment on normative need. A case-control study in Peru

Abstract

Abstract Objective To assess the impact of previously provided orthodontic treatment on the normative need in a sample of young adult Peruvians. Methods Six hundred and thirty five freshmen, representative of all first year students registering in 2002 at a private university in Lima, were randomly screened to obtain 63 cases and 126 controls. A case was defined as having a definite orthodontic treatment need determined by the DAI and IOTN indices simultaneously. A control was defined as having no need of orthodontic treatment based on both indices. Students were also asked if they had previously undergone any orthodontic treatment. Binary logistic regression was used for the statistical analysis. Results Sex, age and socioeconomic status of the students were not statistically associated with normative orthodontic treatment need (p = 0.258, 0.556 and ≥ 0.272 respectively). The percentage of students with a previous history of orthodontic treatment was similar between the cases and the controls (14.3 per cent and 11.9 per cent respectively). There were no statistically significant associations between the variables. Conclusions The impact of previously provided orthodontic treatment on the current normative need of young adults was limited. Properly designed studies are required to assess the reasons for these findings.