Bullying due to Malocclusion Among School age Chlidren in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: to assess the prevalence of bullying due to certain malocclusion characteristics among school age chlidren in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods: Sixth grade school children in Jeddah were invited to participate in a self-administered survey assessing the likelihood of bullying due to malocclusion features.
Results: A total of 445 school children with an average age of 12.2 years participated in this study. Fifty-four percent reported being bullied at school. However, only 8.7% reported that they skipped school because of bullying. Twelve percent reported being bullied because of their teeth, and the top 3 malocclusion features triggering bullying were protruded lower teeth sticking out, prognathic chin, and open bite.
Conclusions: This study demonstrated that certain malocclusion features are more prone to bullying among school children. This highlights the importance of addressing bullying among schoolchildren by antibullying campaigns.