Oral health

The WHO has defined oral health as ‘a standard of the
oral and related tissues which enables an individual to eat,
speak and socialise without active disease, discomfort
or embarrassment and which contributes to general
well-being’.

Oral health education?

This term is generally understood to mean giving patients
personally relevant information about their dental
health, based on scientific evidence. Skills required to perform
OHE involve communicating, motivating, teaching
and training individuals and small groups.

Anterior open bite (AOB): there is no vertical overlap of the incisors when the buccal segment teeth are in occlusion .

Posterior open bite (POB): when the teeth are in occlusion there is a space between the posterior teeth .

Incomplete overbite: the lower incisors do not occlude with the upper incisors or the palatal mucosa . The overbite may be decreased or increased.

This new index incorporates features of both the Index of Orthodontic Need (IOTN) and the Peer Assessment Rating (PAR). The aesthetic component of IOTN is included along with scores for upper arch crowding/spacing; presence of cross-bite; overbite/open bite, and buccal segment relationship. As in the PAR, weightings are added to reflect current orthodontic opinion. The sum of the scores and their weightings gives a pretreatment score, which is said to reflect the need for, and likely complexity of, the treatment required. Following treatment the index is scored again to give an improvement grade (pretreatment score minus 4 × post-treatment score) and thus the outcome of treatment. This ambitious index is currently undergoing evaluation