Prevalence of Acquired Malocclusions in Early Childhood

Objectives: To identify the prevalence and types of malocclusion found in patients aged 0-36 months at the Baby Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, based on the analysis of open records in consultations carried out in the years 2006 to 2016.
Methods: It was a descriptive, transversal, retrospective study based on medical records of 369 patients of the Baby Clinic of the Faculty of Dentistry of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Data collection was performed by a single evaluator and the information was recorded in a database and analyzed statistically using Pearson's chi-squarestatistical test (p = 5%).
Results: The prevalence of malocclusion in the present study was 13.9%; in its distribution, the anterior open bite was the one with the highest prevalence (8.3%), followed by bilateral crossbite (2.4%), anterior crossbite and overbite (both with 1.33%) and unilateral crossbite (0.53%). Correlating each of the deleterious oral habits with each of the orthodontic, orthopedic, or phonoaudiological alterations, there was a statistically significant association (p = 5%) between "Pacifier during daytime x anterior open bite".
Conclusions: It was also observed a higher prevalence of malocclusion in children from 2 to 3 years of age, especially in the case of anterior open bite from the pacifier habit also during the day, proving to be the most significant variable in the triggering of acquired malocclusions.Therefore, it is necessary to introduce preventive and interceptive measures of these malocclusions in early childhood.