AIM: The purpose of this article was to determine the main reasons that motivate adult patients to seek for orthodontic treatment. METHODS: The sample comprised 70 adult individuals (44 females and 26 males) that were asked to answer a questionnaire with a list of possible complaints. Descriptive statistics were obtained. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The findings showed that esthetics related to malpositioning of the upper incisors is the reason mostly associated to the search for orthodontic treatment. Only a few patients (7% of the sample) indicated skeletal discrepancies as reason for treatment. Symptoms of TMJ appeared as the second reason.
Orthodontics; Adults; Motivation; Esthetics
