The aim of this study was to compare the socio-demographic features and self-perception of parents concerning the malocclusion of their children with the orthodontist's opinion of normative orthodontic treatment need. The parents of 208 children (101 girls and 107 boys, between 9 and 18 years: mean 12.8 ± 2.5), who sought orthodontic treatment were asked to score the dental attractiveness of their children using the aesthetic component (AC) of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN). These scores were then compared with those of the orthodontist, who also scored the Dental Health Component (DHC) of the IOTN. The influence of the socio-demographic features of the parents on both the orthodontist- and parent-rated IOTN scores was assessed. The AC grade of the IOTN and patient characteristics were tested with the Spearman's correlation coefficient (rho). The difference between the two dependent variables (orthodontists' and parents' AC grade) was compared using Wilcoxon's test. A high need for orthodontic treatment was recorded in 74.0 per cent of the subjects. Although orthodontists rated 51.4 per cent of the patients as having a severe malocclusion on aesthetic grounds, only 33.6 per cent of parents rated their child malocclusion as severe. Although socio-demographic factors were not related to the parents' perception of malocclusion, they had an influence on orthodontic treatment need as assessed by the orthodontist. Parents, in this study population, rated their children's orthodontic treatment need less severely than the orthodontist regardless of their socio-demographic characteristics. Thus, orthodontists should involve parents in the orthodontic treatment decision-making process.

In the present study, condylar asymmetry measurements were investigated on the lateral cephalometric head radiographs and the panoramic radiographs of 72 subjects (36 males and 36 females), aged 12-16-years and having different skeletal patterns. The lateral cephalometric head radiographs were divided into three groups according to the ANB angle: ANB angles smaller than 1 degrees, between 1 degrees and 5 degrees, and larger than 5 degrees. In addition, each group was also divided into two subgroups according to sex. The effects on the ANB angle and sex on the condylar asymmetry measurement were investigated on the panoramic radiographs by means of variance analysis. It was observed that while condylar + ramus ratio measurement was affected by the change of ANB angle, the other measurements were not affected by it.

The aim of this study was to compare the shear bond strength (SBS) of brackets bonded to fluorosed and non-fluorosed teeth with self-etching primer (SEP) and phosphoric acid (PA). The study involved 40 mildly fluorosed [Thylstrup-Fejerskov (TFT) Index = 1-3] and 40 non-fluorosed human premolar teeth. The fluorosed and non-fluorosed teeth were randomly divided into two subgroups. In the first subgroup, 37 per cent PA was applied for 30 seconds and in the second, a SEP (Transbond Plus) was used. The brackets were bonded with light-cure adhesive paste (Transbond XT) and cured for 20 seconds. The SBSs were measured after 1000 thermocyclies. Two-way analysis of variance, Tukey's multiple comparison test, and Weibull analysis were used for the evaluation of SBS values. Bond failure locations were determined with the adhesive remnant index (ARI) and were compared with the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U-tests. The mean SBS was 9.01 MPa for the fluorosed teeth bonded with SEP. This value was significantly different from those of fluorosed teeth etched with PA (15.22 MPa) and non-fluorosed teeth conditioned with SEP (12.95 MPa) and PA (15.37 MPa). The ARI scores of the fluorosed teeth conditioned with SEP were significantly lower than those of non-fluorosed teeth conditioned with SEP or PA. The results of this in vitro study suggest that there are no differences in the SBS of orthodontic brackets between mildly fluorosed and non-fluorosed enamel etched with 37 per cent PA for 30 seconds. The SEP showed lower SBS values for orthodontic brackets bonded to mildly fluorosed enamel. The findings provide some evidence that routine clinical use of a SEP to bond brackets to mildly fluorosed teeth cannot be supported.

The relationship between dental maturity and skeletal maturity is not sufficient for dental maturity to be used as a substitute for skeletal maturity.

In this study, 43 lateral cephalometric radiographs from 20 boys and 23 girls subjects were used to determine the Holdaway soft tissue growth changes. Subjects with Class I occlusions, balanced skeletal profiles, normal growth and development, and no orthodontic treatment history were included in the investigation. The cephalometric measurements were carried out on the first and second radiographs of each subject, with an average interval of 5 years. The growth changes in both sexes were analysed separately. The changes resulting from growth and development were determined by a paired t-test. The results showed that all measurements were significant at various levels except for upper lip sulcus depth, subnasal-H line distance, and lower lip H distance in girls, and upper lip sulcus depth, subnasal-H line distance, H angle and lower lip H line distance in boys. The measurement differences were observed with a Student's t-test. No significant difference was found for any measurement except upper lip base thickness (P < 0.001) and upper lip thickness (P < 0.01). The following measurements during the observation period were statistically different: soft-tissue facial angle (P < 0.01 in girls, P < 0.05 boys), nose prominence (P < 0.001 in girls and boys), skeletal profile convexity (P < 0.001 in girls, P < 0.01 in boys), basic upper lip thickness (P < 0.001 in girls and boys), upper lip thickness (P < 0.05 in girls, P < 0.001 in boys), H angle (P < 0.001 in girls), lower lip sulcus depth (P < 0.001 in girls and boys), and soft-tissue chin thickness (P < 0.001 in girls, P < 0.001 in boys).