Prevalence of malocclusion and its common traits in Saudi males of Aseer region

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the prevalence of malocclusion and its common characteristics in young male population of Aseer province. Methods: One thousand eight hundred and twenty Saudi male students between the age of 15 and 17 years were chosen from 3408 pupils studying in different middle schools of Abha region. Oral examination was performed to check the prevalence of malocclusion according to Angles classification and the individual traits including crowding, spacing, deep bite, anterior open bite, and anterior cross bite. Results: The prevalence of Class I, II, and III malocclusions was 62.3%, 28.4%, and 9.3%, respectively. Crowding was the most common individual trait (43.8%) while anterior open bite was the least prevalent (7.2%). Conclusion: There was high prevalence of malocclusion observed in the study population. Nearly half of them were suffering from crowding of teeth.