Proposal for an index for handicapping malocclusions with deterioration potential and its application.

Resumen

The need In the Public Health Sector to select patients requiring  orthodontic treatment of 2^nd and 3^rd hospital level has led several authors to the devising of indexes to determine occlusal problems of non dental origin. However, none of these indexes can reliably measure cranial, facial and dental anomalies, which, at institutional level are a priority due to their transcendence, impact, magnitude and severity. For the purpose of this study we determined the most frequent cranial, facial and dental alterations in patients receiving treatment at the Orthodontics Department of the General Hospital  “Dr Manuel Gea Gonzalez” in 1996. A format was devised incorporating new variables. Each variable had nominal and ordinal values, so that their final addition would suggest the level of possibility and need for hospital based orthodontic treatment. This format was named “Index for handicapping malocclusions with deterioration potential”. It was applied to 80 patients who came to the hospital for treatment. The lowest score was given to a female, totally edentulous patient with dysfunction while the highest score was for a female patient with a diagnosis of multiple facial fissures. In this manner according to the classification and the points system proposed in this research,  the patient with multiple fissures would deserve a program  of hospital administered orthodontic treatment while the edentulous one would not require this service.