Correlation of dental aesthetics with malocclusion severity

This study examined the relationship between dental aesthetics, as judged by the aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN), and malocclusion severity measured by the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR) Index. Data were obtained from the dental casts of 79 BDS students (25 males and 54 females, mean age 20.7 years, S.D. 1.2). The results Indicated a highly significant correlation (P<0.001) of dental aesthetics with malocclusion severity. But when the sample was collapsed into two treatment need categories of AC representing no need and need, the significant association in both groups could only be found when the malocclusion severity was represented by weighted PAR (British validated version). Of all the malocclusion traits comprising the PAR index, overjet exhibited the strongest and highly significant relation (P<0.001) with dental aesthetics Irrespective of whether the correlation was computed considering the whole sample or the two need groups. Of upper anterior crowding and overbite, in spite of both showing significant difference (P<0.05) between the two need categories, only upper anterior crowding in the no need group (AC grades 1-4) could present significant correlation with dental aesthetics.