Patient cooperation in wearing orthodontic headgear.

Since successful orthodontic treatment depends upon patient cooperation, it would be useful to assess variables associated with cooperation so that the orthodontist might engender cooperation based on that understanding. Headgear wear was timed for twenty adolescent patients. The variables included overt measures, ratings of cooperation and malocclusion, various patient attitudes, and locus of control. Principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed four meaningful factors. Of greatest salience to encouraging headgear wear were sex differences and the interrelationship of malocclusion and patient attitudes. Patients who most needed to wear their headgear had a greater potential for troublesome attitudes. Girls were more cooperative in wearing headgear, which was related to their more general attitude of cooperation. Girls were motivated by dentofacial esthetics more than boys, who were more inclined to perceive the consequences of their actions as their personal responsibility. Orthodontists can promote headgear wear by taking sex differences into account, by sensitizing patients to their malocclusions, and by increasing their appreciation for treatment.