Recognition by a parent or child of an occlusal abnormality is one of the many factors which may influence a desire for orthodontic treatment. Non-orthodontists may not estimate the severity of malocclusion reliably and may use different criteria from orthodontists for the process. The present study therefore sought to examine the reliability of parents' and children's perceptions of the children's own malocclusions with rating scales under two anchoring conditions and to test the discrepancy between their estimates and those of a panel of orthodontists. The children's and parents' assessments had limited test-retest reliability but instead of making guesses about the severity of their malocclusions they consistently gave low estimates. These effects were not influenced by the additional anchoring stimuli.