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Braces in school – not unfamiliar to many children (symbolic image)
Photo: Franziska & Tom Werner / Getty Images
According to professional associations, around 40 percent of eight- and nine-year-old children in Germany require orthodontic treatment.
This is pointed out by the Institute of German Dentists and several associations in a study.
The need therefore largely corresponds to the health insurance data, there is “no under- or oversupply” in this area.
Tooth and jaw misalignments are among the most common problems in the oral cavity, along with caries and periodontal diseases.
From January to March 2021, around 700 children aged eight and nine years nationwide were scientifically examined for the study.
In 2018, the Federal Court of Auditors complained that the benefits of the services had not been sufficiently proven and that there was too little transparency in the treatment process.
Tooth misalignments and jaw anomalies in children had not been determined to this extent for more than 30 years, it said in a statement.
The study results now show that the need for orthodontic treatment with braces or brackets "remained constant over many years," said Wolfgang Eßer, CEO of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Dentists.
There is no oversupply, as claimed.
"Orthodontics is and will therefore remain an essential part of prevention-oriented dentistry, oral and maxillofacial medicine," says Eßer.
In the study, the researchers found, among other things, that the participants in the study...
10 percent had
pronounced tooth misalignments
that required treatment for medical reasons,
25.5 percent had
severely misaligned
teeth that urgently required treatment for medical reasons,
5 percent had
extremely pronounced tooth misalignments
, which absolutely necessitated treatment for medical reasons, as well as
Caries-free children were less likely to need orthodontic care than children with caries experience.
Children and young people with misaligned teeth and jaws also have more difficulty chewing and more frequent pain in the mouth, which is associated with a reduction in quality of life, said Konstantin von Laffert, Vice President of the German Dental Association (BZÄK).
In addition, there is a significantly higher proportion of carious teeth in those affected than in children without orthodontic problems.
Around 57 percent of children of this age have a medical recommendation for a tooth or jaw correction that is not covered by health insurance, said von Laffert.
Such treatments are rarely paid for privately.
This group of patients then often starts the correction in young adulthood, for example with invisible splints, so-called aligners.
The field of dental treatment has increasingly been discovered by start-ups that woo their customers with the promise of lower prices.
However, von Laffert warned of a lack of quality.
Patients are sometimes treated without proper findings and with a cell phone photo to document the progress of treatment.
“That can lead to major dental problems,” said the BZÄK deputy.
kry/AFP
