Awareness of orthodontic treatment among school teachers in Karad Taluka.

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.