Prevalence of malocclusion in early childhood and its associated factors in a primary care service in Brazil.

Natalia De Abreu Pegoraro,Beatriz Carriconde Colvara,Camila Mello Dos Santos,Juliana Balbinot Hilgert,Rafaela Soares Rech,Fernando Neves Hugo,Daniel Demétrio Faustino-Silva

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/20212021007

Abstract

to evaluate the prevalence of malocclusion and its associated factors of children cared for by a PHC Service in Porto Alegre, Brazil. a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort, carried out in 12 Health Care Practices. Of the 414 children in the cohort examined, 268 were assessed for malocclusion. The presence of anterior open bite, posterior and anterior crossbite was evaluated by the criteria of Foster and Hamilton. Socioeconomic variables, breastfeeding habits and pacifier use information were collected through a standardized questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using a hierarchical approach by Poisson Regression with robust variance. out of the total 268 evaluated, 135 (50.4%) were boys, and the average age was 28.6 (± 11.9) months. Out of the 143 (53.4%) cases of malocclusion, 113 were anterior open bite, 16 were anterior crossbite, 27 were posterior crossbite, and 38 had increased overjet. In the final analysis, it was observed that there was a higher prevalence of malocclusion in children who never breastfed (PR = 1.44; 95%CI 1.00-2.08) and who always used a pacifier to sleep (PR = 1.81; 95%CI 1.14-2.86). the prevalence of malocclusion in this population was high and was associated with behavioral habits, such as the use of pacifier and not breastfeeding.

Highlights

Malocclusion is any change in the normal pattern of occlusion and dental arches, and its etiology is caused by hereditary and environmental factors, such as the incorporation of harmful oral habits, such as finger and pacifier sucking[1,2]
This is a cross-sectional study nested in a cohort study carried out in the 12 Health Care Practices (HCPs) of the Community Health Service (SSC) of Grupo Hospitalar Conceição (GHC), in the city of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil[16]
Children and mothers/primary caregivers with a medical diagnosis of physical or cognitive disabilities that resulted in a lack of conditions to answer the questionnaires were excluded, as well as children outside the territory covered by the HCP for six consecutive months or more

Summary

Introduction

Malocclusion is any change in the normal pattern of occlusion and dental arches, and its etiology is caused by hereditary and environmental factors, such as the incorporation of harmful oral habits, such as finger and pacifier sucking[1,2]. These changes interfere with the balance of the stomatognathic system and the children and adolescents’ quality of life[3,4,5], reflecting on the comfort of eating, sleeping and engaging in social interaction, their self-esteem and their satisfaction with their oral health. The prevalence of malocclusion in the population of preschoolers is around 64.5%, and of these, 38.6% have more than one type of malocclusion simultaneously[7,8]

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Conclusion