Prevalence of oral habits and its dentomaxillary consequences in schoolchildren

Abstract

Context: Dentomaxillary alterations can be caused by various genetic and/or environmental factors; the best known are oral habits that can affect cranial-facial growth and development. Objective: The objective of this research was to determine oral breathing, digital suction and atypical swallowing habits’ prevalence, as well as their dental-maxillary consequences, in schoolchildren aged 6 to 11 years old, attending Emilio Abad School in the city of Azogues, Ecuador. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional and observational research was conducted, applied to 185 children, in two stages; the first one consisted on a clinical examination, and then a survey was administered, to obtain frequency tables, and the adequate interpretation of the study variables; relating them employing the Chi-square test with a 0.05 significance level. Results: The results showed that 77% of the sample were male school children, and 78% were girls. 77. 29 % of them presented oral breathing habits, digital suction and atypical swallowing; being the population aged between 8 and 9 years, the most affected, with 39.86%. Conclusions: Mouth breathing, was the most frequent habit with 26%, while digital suction was the least predominant with 19%.  According to the results, it is evident that all oral habits revealed a percentage of dental-maxillary consequences, being mouth breathing and an open bite, the most prevalent in Emilio Abad School students.