Aim: To describe the distribution and association of dental and occlusal anomalies to gender in children of mixed and early permanent dentition. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with stratified random sampling based on the main ethnic composition involving 413 subjects aged between 9 and 11 years old enrolled in 7 national primary schools in Sungai Buloh, Selangor. A calibrated operator carried out clinical examinations, and study models were fabricated. All dental and occlusal anomalies were recorded accordingly and were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the gender-based differences for various parameters. Results: The reported dental anomalies were supernumeraries and clinically missing teeth (impacted or hypodontia) with a prevalence of 1.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The occlusal abnormalities were: crowding (54.0%), sagittal discrepancies (overjet; increased, reduced, and reversed overjet: 55.5%), vertical discrepancies (overbite; increased, reduced, and open bite: 37.5%) and transverse discrepancies (unilateral and bilateral posterior crossbite: 5.1%). Gender-based differences were not statistically significant to all reported dental and occlusal anomalies (p>0.05). Conclusions: Children in the mixed and early permanent dentition showed various dental and occlusal anomalies with crowding being the highest anomaly. Gender was not associated with any type of dental or occlusal characteristics in the studied population.

Objective: This research aims to assess the impact on the Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) in patients who had the missing teeth substituted with acrylic teeth during orthodontic treatment. Materials and Methods: Eighteen orthodontic patients aged between 18 and 35 years who had at least one missing tooth, and required prosthesis, were recruited. All patients were undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliance for space opening and idealisation. Patient were randomly allocated into Group 1: Transbond XT adhesive only; Group 2: Transbond XT adhesive with surface sandblasting; Group 3: Transbond XT adhesive with surface abrasion; and Group 4: Triad Gel adhesive only. Upon achieving adequate space intraorally, the acrylic tooth was adjusted to required dimension. Subsequently, the corresponding metal bracket was attached to the labial surface using the different surface preparation prior to archwire ligation. The short version of Oral Health Impact Profile (S-OHIP-14) was used to measure the difference in OHRQoL between pre- (T0) and 6 months post-attachment (T1) of acrylic teeth. The patients were monitored monthly for six months. Results: The S-OHIP-14 for simple count (SC) and additive (ADD) scores method showed 28.3% and 40.4% improvement, respectively, although only the ADD method showed significance. Among all the domains, only the handicap domain showed the highest improvement (54.0%) which was statistically significant (p=0.001). Conclusion: There was an overall improvement in the orthodontic treatment outcome measure on the OHRQoL scores after six-months of having missing teeth substituted with acrylic teeth.

Objectives: To assess oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) among orthodontic patients who had been allocated into three methods of orthodontic anchorage; transpalatal arch (TPA), modified TPA-Nance (TPA-Nance) and mini-implant (MI). Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh and Puncak Perdana campus. Thirty-six orthodontic patients with anchorage requirement between 18 and 30 years old were recruited. The subjects were equally divided into three groups, which included 28 females and 8 males. The assessment of patients’ oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) towards the anchorage supplementation using modified oral health impact profile (S-OHIP-14) questionnaires were carried out. The questionnaire was given at two time points, which was before the insertion of the allocated anchorage regime (T0) and after a week of insertion of the allocated anchorage regime (T1). Results: There was no statistical significant difference on functional limitation, physical pain, psychological discomfort, physical disability, psychological disability, social disability and handicap domains of OHIP-14 questionnaire between the three anchorage groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: The OHRQoL patterns, during the treatment with the anchorage reinforcement were very similar. This suggests that TPA, TPA-Nance and MI do not affect patients’ OHRQoL. The OHRQoL trends observed during the study can be communicated to patients and used to increase patients’ compliance since they are made aware of the whole treatment process.

Background: Crowding, rotation and impaction of teeth are some of the complications of supernumeraries. This article aims to discuss the orthodontic treatment of a severely rotated upper left central incisor (UL1) secondary to an erupted mesiodens. An 18-year old Malay male presented with Class I malocclusion with severely crowded upper arch, presence of erupted mesiodens, severely rotated upper left central incisor, displaced upper left lateral incisor and upper left canine and centreline discrepancy. Methods: He had a combination of segmented arch and couple force mechanics to correct severely rotated central incisors. Following anchorage reinforcement, the upper mesiodens and the upper right first premolar was extracted. Subsequently, treatment was continued with conventional straight wire mechanics. Results: The severely rotated upper left central incisor was successfully corrected, and the upper arch crowding was resolved. The fixed appliances were debonded and he was provided with upper dual retention. He had gingival recession Type 1 at UL2 due to the bony defect. Conclusion: Severe crowding can be managed with segmented arch mechanics without any detrimental effects using low forces and good planning. Further periodontal consultation and management were required for the treatment of UL2.