Resumen
PURPOSE: To evaluate parents' attitude toward esthetic defects of maxillary primary incisors and the association between various demographic parameters and the treatment parents chose for their children. METHODS: The study consisted of two parts: 1) a clinical examination of the child's primary incisors, and 2) a questionnaire for the accompanying parent. 362 parents who accompanied 294 children aged 1-6 years, participated in the study. They were divided in 2 groups: parents' accompanying children with esthetic defects (study group) and parents' of children without esthetic defects (control group). RESULTS: Significantly more parents in the study group (73percent) recognized an esthetic problem in their child's incisors, compared to (17percent) in the control group. Eighty seven percent (219 in the Study Group [85.20percent] and 97 in the Control Group [92.4percent]) advocated dental treatment to save a primary tooth even if the chances for success were only 50percent. 35.9percent rejected the idea of a prosthetic replacement for a lost primary incisor. The same percentage of parents (35.9percent) answered that they 'want it 'very much'' while the rest (28.2percent) chose intermediate scores '2-3' on a scale of '0' (= not at all) to '5' (= yes! verymuch). CONCLUSION: Parents are interested in a conservative treatment for preserving esthetically damaged incisors, but will be less enthusiastic to replace extracted or missing teeth with an esthetic device. (AU)
