The Public Health Sector need to select patients requiring orthodontic treatment at the 2 and 3 hospital level has led several authors to devise indexes to determine occlusal problems of non dental origin. However, none of these indexes can reliably measure the need in patients with cranial, facial and dental anomalies, which, at institutional level are a priority due to their transcendence, impact, magnitude and severity.
La necesidad existente en salud pública para la selección de pacientes que ameriten atención ortodóncica de 2 y 3er. nivel hospitalario ha llevado a varios autores a idear índices que determinen problemas oclusales de orígenes distintos al dental, sin embargo ninguno mide confiablemente las anomalías craneofaciodentales que son prioritarias a nivel institucional por su trascendencia, magnitud y severidad.