Knowledge, attitude, and perception regarding myofunctional appliance: A cross-sectional survey of parents′ view

Abstract

Aim: The current survey is conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and perception regarding myofunctional appliance from parents' point of view. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional web-based questionnaire survey conducted among parents in Tamil Nadu. The pilot study was conducted to estimate the sample size, and the final sample size arrived was 260 participants. The predesigned and validated, self-administered, structured ten questions are related to awareness of myofunctional appliance. The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS (V 22.0), and the frequency distribution was computed. Results: The survey revealed that 74% of the respondents had awareness about skeletal problems. Thirty-four percent of the population answered that forwardly placed upper and lower jaw bases are facial skeletal jaw base problems. Sixty-four percent of the parents are willing to counsel their child to take up this treatment and 84% had awareness about the importance of myofunctional appliance. Conclusion: Every orthodontist should be aware of discomfort depending on the appliance type and to inform the patients beforehand during clinical evaluation and appliance selection. The current study showed that the vast majority of the parents were aware about functional appliance and they had knowledge about how to distinguish skeletal problem. More awareness regarding functional appliance is mandatory and has to be created in order to treat skeletal problems during appropriate early age group of an individual.