Abstract
The demand for orthodontic care in modern societies continues to increase and create a significant encumbrance on health systems and insurance funds. This demand for care in certain cosmopolitan regions is presented as an additional challenge for healthcare teams because they will be called upon to take in charge patients from different ethnic origins with particularities both psycho-social and medical.
In order to understand these challenges, our team has undertaken a comparative study of one hundred clinical cases with different ethnic backgrounds treated in the orthodontic department of the faculty of medicine of Ouargla (south-eastern Algeria) from 2017 to 2020. The chief complaints, the diagnostic techniques and the therapeutic monitoring of these patients have been evaluated.
As a result, the patients were divided into 3 ethnic origins: Caucasian, African and mixed. The most frequent complaint in all ethnic groups was the aesthetic one with a higher prevalence of functional complaint in the African ethnicity. In addition, no significant difference was observed in therapeutic decisions.
To conclude this work, it is important to point out the need for health care professionals to take in charge of all ethnic groups with their socio-cultural particularities, but also with their different requests for care.