EVALUATION OF THE PREVENTIVE AND INTERCEPTIVE ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT NEED OF AN INNER CITY GROUP OF ANATOLIAN TURKISH CHILDREN

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the oral and dental health amongthe primary school children in a city in Turkey and to identify the need forpreventive and interceptive practices.Materials and Methods: Our study was carried out on total 334 individuals,which include 135 male and 199 female primary school students between 6 and 9years of age in Sivas, Turkey. These individuals were examined intraorally in theschool environment. In order to determine the need for preventive andinterceptive orthodontic treatment, pre-prepared data forms were filled in duringthe examination and existing problems were recorded. Collected data wereevaluated through the program of SPSS (Ver:15.0).Results: The number of the individuals, who needed at least one of thepreventive and interceptive orthodontic treatments was 319 (95.5%). The mostrequired one among these practices was found as fissure sealant with a ratio of52.1%. When the relationship between age and gender data and other parameterswas evaluated, a significant relation was observed only between age and thefissure sealant, space maintainer need and posterior cross bite.Conclusions: The need for preventive and interceptive treatments was quite highand it is a fact that a special attention should be paid to these applications.