Attitudes to Malocclusion Amongst the Parents of 10–12 Year Old Children in Glasgow

Attitudes to malocclusion amongst the parents of 10–12 year old children in Glasgow have been assessed by means of a simple questionnaire distributed via schoolteachers. Parental attitudes have been compared with observations recorded at an examination of 731 children. Although 98 per cent of parents considered orthodontic treatment important and 71 per cent said that they were keen to receive treatment, only 8 per cent were already actually receiving it. Only about 50 per cent of parents recognized severe malocclusion in the mouths of their own children.