Malocclusion trends among the Kuwaiti population seeking Orthodontic treatment

ABSTRACT:

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of the different types of malocclusion in a sample of Kuwaiti population who seek Orthodontic treatment in the city of Kuwait.

Materials and Methods: 936 consecutive cases records (669 females and 267 males) selected from a total of 2350 patients who reported for Orthodontic treatment in a private practice in Kuwait were studied. The pre-treatment records included study models, panoramic radiographs, lateral cephalograms and clinical exam notes. The exclusion criteria included all the non-Kuwaiti patients and those less than 12 years of age. The variables evaluated were: molar classification according to Angle, overbite, overjet, crossbite, spacing and/or crowding, supernumerary teeth and congenitally missing teeth.

Results: 71.5 % of the cases were females. The ages ranged from 12-36yrs. 63.4% were 12 -16 yr olds, 16.3 % were 17-22yr olds and 20.3% were older than 20. The prevalence of Class I was 69.5%, Class II division 1 was 15.5%, Class II division 2 was 4.3%, and Class III was 10.4%. The prevalence of anterior crowding was 56.6% while deep over bite (greater than 50%) was 13.3% and anterior open bite was 5.3%. In addition, the prevalence of anterior spacing was 21.04%, overjet greater than 4mm was 8.6%, negative overjet was 5.4% and posterior crossbite was 12.6%. Finally, 0.53 % of the patients had at least one congenitally missing tooth in the mandible and 2.1% in the maxilla.

Conclusions: As compared to Caucasians, the studied population presented with similar prevalence of Class I malocclusion, Class II malocclusion, posterior crossbite, anterior crowding and deep bite. However, our results distinguished from the Caucasian population in regards to Class III malocclusion and anterior open bite which were both more prevalent in the study group by 7 % and 2.4 % respectively.