Prevalence and Distribution of Malocclusions in Teenagers

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and distribution for malocclusions in teenagers. Methods: through a crossectional design. A random sample of 1281 subjects was evaluated. The 49 % were woman, the average age was 16.7 ± 1.34 with a range between 14 and 23 years. The criteria to evaluate the malocclusions were through the Angle's classification. For examinations was used with daylight and a tongue depressor. The clinical examinations were carried out by one standardized examiner (Kappa = 0.89). Previously socio demographic variables that have been used were registrated: age and sex. Results: The prevalence of malocclusions was 22%, 70% belongs to the class I Normocclusion, 13.7% to Class II and 8.4% to Class III. 55.2% from a group of 16 and 17 years old did not have malocclusions; also, 0.4% from a group of 22 to 23 years old did not have malocclusions. 51.7% from groups of 16 and 17 years did present malocclusion and those who had less belong to groups of 22 to 23 years with a Chi2 = 14.88, p = 0,005. 40% of men had no malocclusions and 11.2% did have malocclusions; 38% of women did not have it and 11% did have malocclusion. Chi2 = 0.53 and P = 0.04.

Conclusion: The findings of this study make contributions suggesting the establishment of public health measures and treatments for those who were with malocclusions; The results also suggest that more studies on the specific topic should be made.