[Analysis of patient records in an orthodontic practice]

The dentist often refers children to the orthodontist. Little is known why these children were referred or about the subsequent decisions of the orthodontist. In this article the data of some 400 children, 12.0 years average, from an orthodontic private practice are analysed. The relationship between sex, age, oral habits, trauma of the chin, profile, arch crowding, extraction and treatment period are reported, in an attempt to find a stereotype for children referred to an orthodontist. The profile most probably was not the reason to refer the children to the orthodontist. Crowding in the upper front teeth, however, was especially in older children.