The purpose of this 20-year follow-up study was to assess whether persistent traits of morphologic malocclusion imply an increased risk of periodontal disease. In 1965-66 malocclusion was recorded in ...176 adolescents who were re-examined in 1986-87 at the age of 33-39 years. Markedly healthier periodontal conditions were found in women than men, in the higher social group than the lower one, and in the maxilla than the mandible. Subjects with specified malocclusion traits at both examinations were compared with subjects without malocclusion for the occurrence of calculus, gingivitis (bleeding), and pocketing. Controlling for the effect of sex and social group, periodontal disease was significantly more frequent in the maxilla in connection with crowding, extreme maxillary overjet, and cross-bite (p < 0.05). No association was found in the mandible. The presence of certain malocclusion traits in adolescence may probably often call for special professional efforts of oral hygiene education rather than orthodontic therapy.
Thesis--University of Oslo, Norway, 1990.
At head of title: Institute for Community Dentistry and Graduate Studies, Royal Dental College, Copenhagen, Denmark. eContent provider-neutral record in ...process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.
Long-term psychosocial effects of malocclusion should be studied longitudinally from childhood to adulthood in orthodontically untreated populations. In 1965-66, the occurrence of morphologic traits ...of malocclusion was recorded in 977 Danish adolescents who had no access to organized orthodontic care. In a follow-up study 15 years later, a questionnaire was mailed to the subjects; this contained general questions about body image and specific inquiries concerning self-perception and social implications of dental appearance. The response rate was 86%. Ten percent had received orthodontic treatment. In the remaining individuals, only one entry among thirteen items of body image--the teeth--was rated significantly less satisfactory by subjects with malocclusion at adolescence than by subjects without malocclusion at adolescence. The lowest ratings were observed in subjects with extreme maxillary overjet, extreme deep bite, and crowding. Highly significant differences were found between the two groups (subjects with and without malocclusion) in recalling adolescent awareness of malocclusion, dissatisfaction with the appearance of the teeth, and unfavorable appearance of the teeth compared with those of peers. Schoolmates' teasing occurred seven times more often in the presence of malocclusion. Differences were less marked in the perceptions of the same individuals in adulthood. However, in both adolescence and adulthood unfavorable perceptions of the teeth were expressed significantly more often by subjects with extreme maxillary overjet, extreme deep bite, and crowding. No association was found between malocclusion and present occupational status. It was concluded that certain malocclusions, especially conspicuous occlusal and space anomalies, may adversely affect body image and self-concept, not only at adolescence but also in adulthood.
Data on caries prevalence are reported from 8‐ and 16‐yr‐old children living in a Danish community which established the Public Child Dental Health Service in 1957. Every fourth birth‐cohort from ...1950 through 1970 was followed longitudinally. In the 8‐yr‐olds, caries prevalence decreased in the primary dentition from 17 to 3 dmfs and in the permanent dentition from 3.4 to 0.3 DMFS over a 28‐yr period. Among the 16‐yr‐olds, a reduction was observed from 16.4 to 5.1 DMFS over 20 yr. Time trends in the decreasing caries prevalence are related to various organizational events and preventive measures. Moreover, the possible influence of general changes in living conditions and health behavior is pointed out.
Two cohorts of 17‐yr‐olds treated in a municipal child dental service in 1978–79 and 1984–85 had bitewing radiographs taken at the examination before the last course of treatment in the service. All ...radiographs were read by one examiner, who did not know to which cohort the individual belonged. The subsequent treatment was recorded from the treatment records by another examiner, who was unaware of the results of the radiographic examination. According to radiographic scores, the proportion of decayed or filled (DPS) approximal surfaces had decreased from 23.2% to 17.4% during the period (difference: 25%). The proportion of unfilled surfaces which were decayed (DS) had remained almost constant, while 9.6% of the surfaces were filled (FS) in 1978–79 compared to 3.1% in 1984–85 (difference: 68%). Thus, in spite of a 25% decrease in total caries experience (DPS), a reduction of 68% would be claimed if fillings (FS) were interpreted as expression of disease prevalence. The risk of an approximal surface being filled decreased to about one fifth from 1978–79 to 1984–85, and the risk of being filled was nearly three times as high for approximal surfaces of children who already had approximal fillings at the time of examination. Thus, both the year of examination and the subject's previously received treatment seemed to influence the treatment strategy of the dentist.
Skeletal maturity was assessed from hand-wrist radiographs in a sample of 3,817 Danish schoolchildren aged 7 to 18 years using the new version of the bone-specific Tanner-Whitehouse scoring system, ...the TW2 method. In most of the age groups in both sexes the distributions of the bone maturity scores displayed marked departures from normality; percentiles for the scores were therefore counted from the raw data. On the average, over the total age range, the differences between the age equivalents (bone ages) for the fiftieth percentile and chronological age were close to zero in both sexes, indicating good agreement with the British standards. However, in the individual age groups, and in particular at adolescence, characteristic divergences from the standards occurred, apparently reflecting the developmental spurt.
ABSTRACT In pursuance of an Act on Child Dental Health of 1971, free preventive and therapeutic dental care will eventually be available to all schoolchildren in Denmark. For regional and national ...evaluation and planning of the Child Dental Health Services, a standardized data system was developed to record information on (1) identification, (2) caries status, (3) plaque and gingivitis indices, (4) oral mucosal diseases, and (5) malocclusion. The system is based on registrations of all children receiving public dental care. Computer processing utilizes Optical Character Recognition, which permits handwritten signs to be entered as input for identification by an optical reading unit. The record form serves as direct computer input. A duplicate provides a supplement to the patient's records to assist in the planning of dental care for the individual child. Analysis of the data will provide summary statistics, comprising DMF‐S and def‐s indices, gingivitis and plaque indices, and frequencies of malocclusion. These will be published annually for the country as a whole. Furthermore, similar statistics applying to the individual dental services will be available to the municipalities.
