Melbourne Dental School - Theses

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Australian weightings for the PAR Index

Vlaskalic, Vicki ( 1994)

Critical review of orthodontic treatment results is a necessary procedure in the quest for quality control in orthodontic treatment provision. In order for valid information to be collected in such a review, a reliable method must be utilised. Traditionally, occlusal indices have been the method of choice. The index employed should however be reliable and utilised specifically for the purpose it was designed. This has not been the case in the few early attempts at assessing treatment standards. The PAR Index is an occlusal index designed specifically to fulfil such a purpose. The occlusal features comprising the components of the PAR Index have been weighted to reflect British and American orthodontic opinion. This study validates the PAR index using contemporary Australian orthodontic opinion in terms of the degree an occlusion deviates from the ideal. The resultant weightings may be used to allow valid data collection in quality control studies conducted in Australia.