Joo Ming, Cheong and Abu Bakar, Noraini
(2022)
Comparison among parents of special needs and healthy children on their motivation and expectations of their child's proposed orthodontic treatment: A pilot study.
In: National Oral Health Research Initiative (NOHRI) Conference 2022, 15-16 October 2022, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Background: Special needs children present with challenging malocclusions that may not only affect their facial aesthetics, but also masticatory and speech function. There is an increasing awareness of malocclusion among special needs children and their parents. To date, there was no study comparing the motivations and expectations between parents of special needs and healthy children on the proposed orthodontic treatment.
Objectives: To compare parents’ motivations and expectations of special needs and healthy children on proposed orthodontic treatment.
Methods: Questionnaires relating to pre-orthodontic treatment motivation and expectation were distributed to the mothers of 21 special needs children (mean age = 11.76 ± 2.19) and 25 medically healthy children (mean age = 10.84 ± 1.21) from Sekolah Kebangsaan Indera Shahbandar (SKIS) in Pekan district, Pahang state of Malaysia.
Results: All children lived at home with their parents. Majority believed their child did not need orthodontic treatment (66.7% special needs; 68% healthy children) and that their child did not understand the purpose of treatment (61.9% special needs; 52% healthy children). 57.1% of parents were not prepared to help their special needs child with the orthodontic appliances care. Improving dental health was perceived as the main motivation for parents to seek orthodontic treatment for their child (81% special needs; 88% healthy children) besides enhancing aesthetic. 66.7% of parents expected that treatment could improve their special needs child’s quality of life, with 76.2% expected treatment may improve their child’s function in society, and 71.4% believed this would reflect positively on the parents’ own social acceptance.
Conclusion: Although both groups of parents have low motivation for the uptake of orthodontic treatment for their children, majority of them have high expectations that orthodontic treatment would improve the child’s quality of life and their own social acceptance.
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