Relationship between the Dental Aesthetic Index and Discrepancy Index

Plaza, Sonia P
Aponte, Claudia M
Bejarano, Sonia R
Martínez, York J
Serna, Soraya
Barbosa-Liz, Diana M

¹Orthodontic Postgraduate Program, Fundación Universitaria CIEO-UniCIEO, Bogotá, Colombia
²Orthodontics Postgraduate Program Resident, Fundación Universitaria CIEO-UniCIEO, Bogotá, Colombia
³Orthodontic Posgraduate Program, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia

Diana M Barbosa-Liz, Orthodontic Postgraduate Program, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Antioquia, Calle 70 #52-21, Medellín, 050010, Colombia. Email: [email protected]

Received December 17, 2019

Received in revised form April 16, 2020

Accepted May 10, 2020

Journal of Orthodontics 47(3):p 213-222, September 2020. | DOI: 10.1177/1465312520930729

Objective:

To establish the association between malocclusion severity and orthodontic case complexity as assessed by the Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) and the American Board of Orthodontics Discrepancy Index (ABO-DI), respectively.

Design:

Cross-sectional study.

Setting:

Pre-treatment dental casts and radiographs from 500 individuals (294 women and 206 men; mean age = 26.06 ± 11.58 years) were randomly selected from the orthodontics department of a private university.

Methods:

Malocclusion severity was assessed using DAI and case complexity was evaluated with ABO-DI. Three previously calibrated operators performed the measurements. Spearman’s correlation analysis, Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal–Wallis test and a linear generalised model were used for statistical evaluation (P < 0.05 was considered significant).

Results:

Although the correlation (r = 0.45; P < 0.0001) between malocclusion severity and case complexity was moderate, strong evidence of an association (P < 0.001) between dichotomised DAI and ABO-DI total scores was observed. The linear generalised model showed that for each point of increase in DAI score, the ABO-DI score increased an average of 0.3624 points (P < 0.0001).

Conclusion:

An association between malocclusion severity and case complexity is suggested. A linear generalised model could be used to predict the complexity of the case from the malocclusion severity (DAI score).