Oral Habits: Prevalence and Effects on Occlusion Among 7 to 13 Years Old School Children in Aseer, Saudi Arabia

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of deleterious oral habits and its effect on occlusion in school going children from 7 to 13 years old, in Aseer region of Saudi Arabia. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by clinical examination for the total sample of 750, who were attending private/ government schools in Aseer region school. Students were selected by stratified cluster random sampling. Clinical findings of each oral habits, including assessment of malocclusion, were examined involving the following parameters, i.e., crowding, spacing, open bite, crossbite and deep bite. Logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: Boys had 26.2 % of crowded teeth, while 16.3% of girls were found to have crowded teeth; the difference was found to be significant (p=0.002). Spacing was present in 26.4% of boys and 16.7% girls; a significant difference was found between the two (p=0.002). Sleep bruxism was observed more among male subjects than females with a statistically significant difference in detrimental habits (p<0.001). Those subjects having tongue thrusting are 1.264 times at more risk of having crowded teeth than those with no tongue thrusting. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of malocclusion associated with harmful oral habits in children. This highlighted the need to implement programs of oral care and health education for preventive orthodontic treatment at an early age.

Malocclusion in deciduous dentition of Saudi children: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Occlusal characteristics of the primary dentition vary among populations and ethnic groups. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to record various primary dentition parameters in 700 Saudi children, 2-6 year-old, was divided into 4 age groups and was randomly selected to observe the differences between the age groups. Results: 55.6% of the children had a 'flush terminal plane' molar relationship. The proportion of children with distalstep molar relationship was significantly lower 23 (3.2%). The degree of overbite was significantly less in the 5-year-olds than in the 3-year-olds. The majority of the children (80.7%) had spaced dentition. The prevalence of anterior cross bite was 0.7% and of open bite was 0.3%.