Prevalence of Malocclusion among School aged Children and Adolescents in Kabul, Afghanistan

Abstract

One of the major public health concerns is the prevalence of malocclusion among school-aged children. Malaligned teeth and incorrect jaw posture are referred to as malocclusion, and they can cause a number of functional and cosmetic problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of malocclusion in school-aged children and adolescents in Kabul, Afghanistan. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Dentistry, Kabul University of Medical Sciences “Abu Ali Ibn Sina” (KUMS). The data were collected from High schools in Kabul, Afghanistan during 2019 and 2020. A sample of 479 children and adolescents, 236 females (49.3%) and 243 males (50.7%) 8-18 years old (mean age 14.16±2.8) were randomly selected from four high schools of different districts of Kabul city. We used the angle classification for sagittal plane malocclusion; open bite and deep bite for vertical plane malocclusions; cross bites for transverse plane malocclusion; midline diastema, spacing and crowding show the tooth material and arch length discrepancies. This study demonstrated that only 41 (8.6%) of subjects had normal occlusion while 92.4% of subjects had different types of malocclusions. Class I malocclusion was found in 275 subjects ( (57.4%, class II Division 1 in 63 subjects (13.1%), Class II Division 2 in 64 subjects (13.4%), Class III malocclusion in 36 subjects (7.5%), moreover, crowding in 183 (38.2%), spacing in 79 (16.5%), midline diastema in 54 (11.3%), crossbite in 77 subjects (16.1%), open bite in 23 subjects (4.8%) and deep overbite in 44 subjects (9.2%) were found. According to Angle’s classification of malocclusion class I malocclusion was the most prevalent malocclusion and class III was the least prevalent malocclusion in school-aged children and adolescents in Kabul city.