Prevalence of oral deforming habits in students between the ages of six to nine

Abstract

Background: Oral deforming habits are risk factors for malocclusions.Objectives: To characterize the prevalence of oral deforming habits in students between the ages of six and nine enrolled at Julian Santana Primary School during the first semester of 2015.Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out. The universe was made up of 633 children from the herein mentioned school and the sample included 325 children selected at random. The variables used were age, sex, and type of deforming habit which were related to the presence of malocclusions. To sum up the results obtained measures of frequency and rates of global and specific prevalence to age and sex were used. To determine the relation between the practice of habits and malocclusions the independence x2 test was used.Results: The practice of oral deforming habits was high among the students, being higher in the female sex. Atypical swallowing and onychophagia were the most frequent habits. The number of children who practiced two or more deforming habits at the same time was notable.Conclusions: The alterations in the three space planes were related to the presence of oral deforming habits.

Keywords

• malocclusions
• deglutition
• nail biting