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| Year : 2019 | Volume
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| Issue : 3 | Page : 363-367 |
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| Awareness of orthodontic treatment among school teachers in Karad Taluka |
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Aniket Harishchandra Mhatre, Pratap Mane, Kasseya Roy Mathew, Chanamallappa R Ganigar, Renuka Pawar, Sandesh Phaphe, AR Yusuf Ahammed
School of Dental Sciences, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University, Karad, Maharashtra, India
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| Date of Web Publication | 9-Aug-2019 |
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 Abstract | | |
Introduction: Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Awareness of orthodontic treatment varies in different regions. Undergoing orthodontic treatment to correct malocclusion would be very beneficial to children as it could help eliminate bullying by peers regarding facial appearance. This kind of bullying by peers could affect the child psychologically. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted in Karad Taluka in Maharashtra. A total of 378 subjects were selected. The schools were randomly selected. A questionnaire including general information, knowledge, and awareness of orthodontic treatment was prepared, and the teachers were given 15 min to fill it. Since it was a short period of time to gather information from other sources, the participants answered the questionnaire using their own knowledge. The purpose of this questionnaire, which consisted of 12 questions in both English and Marathi was to evaluate the level of knowledge the teachers had about orthodontic treatment. The purpose of the study and questionnaire forms were explained by the examiner. The responses of the teachers to the questions were recorded on a 2-point Likert scale {YES or NO}. Results: Simple descriptive statistics was applied to describe the study variables. A Chi-square test of independence was performed to check independence between answers and gender for each question. Conclusion: Within limits of this study, it may be concluded that knowledge of available treatments was more in males compared to females in rural areas.
Keywords: Awareness, knowledge, orthodontic treatment, teachers
How to cite this article:
Mhatre AH, Mane P, Mathew KR, Ganigar CR, Pawar R, Phaphe S, Yusuf Ahammed A R. Awareness of orthodontic treatment among school teachers in Karad Taluka. Indian J Dent Res 2019;30:363-7 |
How to cite this URL:
Mhatre AH, Mane P, Mathew KR, Ganigar CR, Pawar R, Phaphe S, Yusuf Ahammed A R. Awareness of orthodontic treatment among school teachers in Karad Taluka. Indian J Dent Res [serial online] 2019 [cited 2023 Oct 3];30:363-7. Available from: https://www.ijdr.in/text.asp?2019/30/3/363/264126 |
| Introduction | |  |
India being a developing country, there are still remote villages unaware of the advances being made in various fields; one such being orthodontics. Amongst the most common dental problems afflicting mankind along with dental caries, gingival disease, and dental fluorosis is malocclusion.
Facial appearance plays an important role towards the development of self confidence in an individual. A person who is comfortable with their facial appearance has more self confidence when compared to someone who is insecure about their appearance.[1]
Awareness is the state or quality of being aware of something. It is important to gain a better understanding of the biopsychosocial [2] aspects of malocclusion and its effects on the quality of life among such individuals, addressing the issue as a public health problem.[3]
Orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics is the dental speciality that includes the diagnosis, prevention, interception, and correction of malocclusion, including neuromuscular and skeletal abnormality of the developing or mature orofacial structure.[4]
These include social judgment owing to different facial appearance, oral functional problems (lack of muscle coordination or pain), temporomandibular joint disorder, swallowing or speech, increased susceptibility to trauma, periodontal disease or caries.[5],[6]
There has been a manifold increase in the number of orthodontic treatments available over the last few decades in industrialized nations. We know that patient satisfaction is influenced by a number of factors, such as sex, age,[7] duration of treatment, socioeconomic status, and ethnic origin, as well as availability and funding of orthodontic services.[1],[3],[4],[5],[8] Earlier studies showed that it has been observed that girls, in general, undergo orthodontic treatment more frequently than boys.[1],[9]
Children and adolescents [10] comprise the bulk of orthodontic patients.[1] Their parents play an important role in initiating orthodontic care and are the single most important factor in the motivation for treatment.[4]
School children are an important target group for orthodontic awareness campaigns, which aim to instill lifelong healthy lifestyle practices that would result in improved overall health.[5]
School teachers are another group with a close relationship with children and adolescents, and students are widely influenced by them.[1] Ehizele et al.[11] concluded that effective dental education of children can be accomplished by a multi-disciplinary approach in which teachers can play the role of oral health educators but only if they have good knowledge, attitude, and practice of oral health; therefore, primary school teachers can serve as oral health educators after systemic training to increase their knowledge of oral health. Similarly, school teachers are probably one of the important factors influencing demand for orthodontic treatment [12] and subsequent compliance problems.
The aim of this study was to assess the school teachers' knowledge about orthodontic treatment in Karad Taluka.
| Materials and Methods | | |
Ethics
A questionnaire survey was conducted in the Karad taluka in Maharashtra, India. A total of 378 subjects were selected. The schools were randomly selected in the Karad Taluka, after obtaining ethical clearance.
Study design
A pre-structured questionnaire including general information, knowledge, and awareness of orthodontic treatment was prepared. The teachers were given only 15 minutes to fill it. Since this is a short time to gather information from other sources, the participants answered the questionnaire using their own knowledge.
A questionnaire consisting of 12 questions prepared both in English and Marathi in 3 section, including general information, knowledge, and awareness of the orthodontic treatment was given to the teachers to assess their knowledge and awareness (attitude) toward orthodontic treatment. The need for the study and questionnaire forms were explained by the examiner. The responses of the teachers to the questions were recorded on 2-point Likert scale {YES or NO}.
Inclusion criteria
Teachers of age group 25–50 years.
Teachers may or may not be aware about orthodontic treatment.
Exclusion criteria
Teachers already underwent orthodontic treatment.
Ethical approval
The study protocol is approved by the Ethical committee of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University (KIMSDU) Karad (Protocol Number 2016-2017/138).
Statistical analysis
Questionnaire forms were collected, and data was subjected to statistical analyses. Unpaired t test was performed to compare between mean scores of males and females for informative, knowledge, and awareness questions. A Chi-square test of independence was performed to check independence between answers and gender for each question. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.
| Results | | |
General information about orthodontic treatment
As noted from [Table 1], a total of 67.2% of teachers have not heard about orthodontics treatment; 54.5% were unaware about the ill effects of irregular teeth; and 54.6% do not have any relative who has undergone orthodontic treatment [Table 1] and [Flowchart 1].
Knowledge about orthodontic treatment
[Table 2] results showing 82.8% teachers do not think that orthodontics is used only for cosmetic purposes; 57.4% do not think they are due to hereditary disorders; 70.4% do not think that teeth can be moved in the bone; 60.1% teachers considered age as an important factor in beginning orthodontic treatment; 82% teachers are unaware about duration of orthodontic treatment; and 89.2% teachers think that improper teeth affect child's personality [Table 2] and [Flowchart 2].
Awareness of orthodontic treatment
[Table 3] results showing a total of 56.3% of teachers unaware that sometimes few teeth may have to be removed for correcting irregular teeth; 78.3% were aware about the costs; and 92. 1% believed that teachers also play an important role in maintaining good oral health, secondary to parental support [Table 3] and [Flowchart 3].
Unpaired t test was performed to compare between mean scores of males and females for informative, knowledge, and awareness questions. It was found that there was a significant difference between males and females for awareness questions (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between males and females for informative and knowledge questions (P > 0.05) [Table 4].
The Chi-square test of independence was performed to check independence answers and gender for each questions. It was found that there was a relation between knowledge of males and females about orthodontics (P < 0.05). It was also found that there was a relation between awareness of males and females about teeth removal for correcting irregular teeth (P < 0.05) [Table 5].
| Discussion | | |
The current study was designed to assess the awareness of orthodontic treatment among the school teachers in Karad Taluka. A questionnaire was designed for 378 subjects in different educational levels in randomly selected schools. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions in 3 sections. Although imparting oral health education begins from the footstep of awareness, evaluation of its implementation is an important indicator of the success of the education imparted.[13]
Our results could not be directly related to any of the reported studies in literature.
Although most of the participants knew the meaning of “orthodontics,” only half had adequate knowledge about orthodontic treatments, its durations, and proper age for orthodontic treatment, with no significant differences.[1]
It was observed in present study that nearly half of the subjects knew about the ill effects of orthodontic treatment. It was also noted that not many of the subjects' relatives had undergone orthodontic treatment.
Most of the teachers were unaware about the duration [14] of orthodontic treatment. Although most of the teachers were unaware about tooth movement in the bone during orthodontic treatment, there were many teachers who know that orthodontic problems were due to the hereditary disorders.
Most of the teachers knew that age consideration is the important factor which is considered before beginning of orthodontic treatment.
Approximately 313 (82.8%) teachers did not believe that orthodontic treatment is used mainly for cosmetic purposes. In addition, about 337 (89.2%) teachers felt that irregular teeth affect the child's personality.
Approximately 213 (56.3%) teachers were unaware that for orthodontic treatment sometimes few teeth need to be removed for correcting irregular teeth.
In the present study, 296 (78.3%) teachers reported high cost of treatment as its greatest disadvantage.
Approximately, 348 (92.1%) teachers believed that they could help the children maintain good oral health.
From this survey, the following steps might be implemented in the future: Initiatives must be taken for good coordination of services and creation of sound referral mechanisms for teachers, medical faculty, and students which may increase awareness and better allocation of the treatment.[5]
The present study allowed comparison between genders by means of a cross-sectional study. According to the statistical analysis, mostly done regarding gender, males showed greater awareness of orthodontic treatment than females. Males had an idea about the treatment, ill effects, cost of the treatment, physiological movement of the teeth within the bone, and duration.
Females were aware of certain orthodontic treatments but it was less as compared to males regarding extraction of teeth before treatment and the child's personality being affected by malaligned teeth.
It is obvious that several genetic and environment factors are related to the etiology of malocclusions. Soft diet, mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, sleeping posture, sucking, and other habits as well as specific factors (skeletal disturbances in embryologic and dental development) interact with heredity in the development of major types of malocclusion.[11]
The widespread use of social media could be utilized to advertise and raise awareness about orthodontic treatments such that malocclusion in children could be addressed at an earlier age. Care should be taken to ensure that these campaigns are ethical and educational in nature.
Lack of information regarding treatments even among teachers has prevented them from providing guidance to their students. A study such as this would help provide information about available treatments to teachers so that they can guide children with malocclusion towards seeking orthodontic treatment.
Overall, the finding of this study show an optimum level of awareness and understanding [15] of the problem with positive attitude [16] and behavior toward the orthodontic treatment among the school teachers.
| Conclusion | | |
School teachers play an important role in students' life not only in terms of academic achievements but also in regard to their cognitive development and lifestyle activities; this study emphasizes the need for regular training programs for school teachers that involves providing knowledge and developing positive a approach toward orthodontic treatment.
The results of this survey show that awareness regarding orthodontic treatment is observed to be moderate among school teachers. Of note, males were more aware of orthodontic treatment than females. Awareness about available orthodontic treatments though is still low and this needs to be addressed.
Further scope of the study
This study may benefit those undertaking similar studies in future to broaden their views regarding orthodontics and undertaking various measures to make teachers aware of problems arising due to irregular teeth and ways to treat them.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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Correspondence Address:
Mr. Aniket Harishchandra Mhatre
School of Dental Sciences Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Deemed University, Karad - 415 110, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijdr.IJDR_631_17
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5] |
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