Deleterious Habits and Malocclusion in Patients from the Pedodontics Clinic of Fortaleza University Dental School

Abstract

Deleterious habits are defined as learned patterns of muscular contraction of complex nature and unconscious character that can act as deforming factors of growth and development, dental positioning, in respiratory and speech processes, being in this way a potential etiological factor for malocclusion. This descriptive, observational and crosssectional study with a quantitative approach, aimed at evaluating the relationship between deleterious habits and malocclusion in patients from the Pedodontics Clinic of Fortaleza University Dental School. By means of visual inspection, 130 patients of both genders and with ages varying from 4 to 13 years old were examined, in order to identify the presence of deleterious habits and malocclusions, associated with gender, age and dentition stage. The results showed that there were 105 (80.8%) patients with deleterious habits, 52 (49.5%) of those did not present malocclusion, while 53 (50.5%) presented it. Among the patients that simultaneously presented deleterious habits and malocclusion, the male gender showed a frequency of 54.7% (n = 29), the age group of 10 to 12 years old was the most frequent referred (n = 30; 56.6%) and the second stage of transitional dentition prevailed. (n = 27; 51.0%). We conclude for the need of reinforcing preventive-educational actions as well as of malocclusion’s precocious interception in the referred dental service, emphasizing the removal of deleterious oral habits, aiming at restoring infant patients’ oral health.