Aim: The aim of this study was to verify the perception of dental fluorosis as an oral health problem by 12-year-old Brazilian children and to evaluate if they were able to detect other oral disorders.
Methodology: The sample consisted of 401 schoolchildren. Firstly, clinical examinations were performed using a visual method under natural light. After that, children answered a questionnaire with the purpose of assessing the self-perception of their oral health problems. Next, the volunteers were shown a photo album containing 24 photographs, and had to match each photo with a severity scale.
Results: The prevalence of fluorosis was 18.2%; 81.8% of this total in fluorosis scale T-F 1. Of the 401 children, 48.9% (n = 196) answered oral health problems related to concerns, such as aesthetic appearance or pain. Among them, only two children, both with fluorosis T-F 2, correlated their problems with the presence of stained teeth. As regards the photo album analysis, the children considered photos showing fluorosis T-F 7-9 as the most severe, whereas the photo of an orally healthy patient was considered the least severe.
Conclusion: Children did not show negative perception of dental fluorosis, except for dental fluorosis at severe levels (T-F 7-9), and were mainly able to detect aesthetic or pain-related problems.