Characteristics and Association of Gender to Dental and Occlusal Anomalies in Malaysian Primary School Children

Abstract

Aim: To describe the distribution and association of dental and occlusal anomalies to gender in children of mixed and early permanent dentition. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study with stratified random sampling based on the main ethnic composition involving 413 subjects aged between 9 and 11 years old enrolled in 7 national primary schools in Sungai Buloh, Selangor. A calibrated operator carried out clinical examinations, and study models were fabricated. All dental and occlusal anomalies were recorded accordingly and were analysed using SPSS version 21.0. Pearson chi-square test was used to determine the gender-based differences for various parameters. Results: The reported dental anomalies were supernumeraries and clinically missing teeth (impacted or hypodontia) with a prevalence of 1.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The occlusal abnormalities were: crowding (54.0%), sagittal discrepancies (overjet; increased, reduced, and reversed overjet: 55.5%), vertical discrepancies (overbite; increased, reduced, and open bite: 37.5%) and transverse discrepancies (unilateral and bilateral posterior crossbite: 5.1%). Gender-based differences were not statistically significant to all reported dental and occlusal anomalies (p>0.05). Conclusions: Children in the mixed and early permanent dentition showed various dental and occlusal anomalies with crowding being the highest anomaly. Gender was not associated with any type of dental or occlusal characteristics in the studied population.

Development and validation of a novel screening instrument to prioritize the orthodontic referral of developing malocclusion in children: The index for interceptive orthodontics referral

“…Crowding and clinically missing teeth were the highest occlusal and dental anomalies screened respectively, and therefore, early orthodontic screening was recommended. 2 The developing malocclusion begins to manifest in the mixed dentition, which commences when the first permanent tooth erupts at around five to six years and ends at around twelve to thirteen years of age with the exfoliation of the last deciduous tooth. 3 Although orthodontic treatment has numerous benefits including improvements in dental health, function and esthetics, it carries significant risks that need to be considered to yield maximum benefit and minimum risk.…”