Year : 2022

Volume : Volume 13

Issue : Issue 3

Address for correspondence :
:Vipin Goel,
goel44521@gmail.com

Abstract

Background: Malocclusion not only hampers psychosocial development but also affects appearance, speech, masticatory efficiency, and respiration. Awareness and perception of general population about the problem varies with their geographical location and cultural background, education, and their knowledge. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the largest paramilitary force of India with its multidimensional role to preserve law and order and to provide internal security. Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate knowledge, attitude, and awareness among medical and paramedical staff of CRPF so as to enhance reference to orthodontist to provide better orthodontic care to force personnel and their dependents. Materials and Methods: This was a crosssectional webbased questionnaire survey conducted among a total of
420 medical and paramedical staff of CRPF of age between 21 and 65 years which were further divided into three age groups. A pre-structured self-administered questionnaire consisting of 27 questions was given to assess their knowledge and attitude toward orthodontic treatment. The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS (Chicago 22.0). Results: The mean score for knowledge
was found to be more for medical professional (16.17 ± 2.97) compared to paramedical (10.69 ± 6.61), and the difference was statistically highly significant (P = 0.00). The mean score for awareness score was found to be more in the medical professionals (5.91 ± 1.30) compared to paramedical (4.52 ± 2.26), and the difference was statistically highly significant (P = 0.00). Conclusion: Knowledge and attitude toward
orthodontic treatment is far better in medical staff than paramedical staff but the number of paramedical staff is quite large as compared to medical staff. Hence, it is important to increase awareness among paramedical staff regarding malocclusion and orthodontic treatment.

Keywords: Malocclusion, Orthodontic Treatment, Behavior, Awareness, Knowledge, Central Reserve Police Force, Medical and
Paramedical Staff.