INDEX OF COMPLEXITY, OUTCOME AND NEED (ICON) FOR DETERMINING TREATMENT NEED IN PAKISTANI ORTHODONTIC PRACTICE

Abstract

Assessment of orthodontic treatment need is a complicated issue. Taking decision of whether or not one should undergo orthodontic treatment, both the desire of the patient (and/ or parents) and the opinion of the orthodontist must be taken into account. The aim of present cross sectional study was to apply Index of Complexity, Outcome and Need (ICON) in Pakistani population. Dental casts of 50 patients were used and analyzed by applying ICON to find out the orthodontic treatment need and initial stage complexity grades. The data was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software package (SPSS) 21. Results showed that 80% of the patients needed some sort of orthodontic therapy. More than 65% of the cases were classified as being difficult and very difficult to treat. It was concluded that a high number of cases were in need of the orthodontic therapy and majority of the patients undergoing orthodontic treatment were in difficult grades.