Prevalence of malocclusion in children with upper airway obstruction

Abstract

Objectives: To report epidemiological data on the prevalence of malocclusion in a group of children admitted to a referral mouth-breathing otorhinolaryngological hospital center, and to evaluate the association between upper airway obstruction and different dental malocclusions. Methods: One thousand and two oral breathing children, with a mean age of 6.7 ± 2.7, were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team. The inter-arch relation was recorded in the sagittal, vertical and transversal planes and the chi-square test was performed to evaluate associations between malocclusion and mouth breathing (airway obstruction due to enlarged tonsils or adenoids and/or allergic rhinitis). Results: Tonsillar hypertrophy causing significant airway obstruction was detected in 41.3% of this sample, adenoid hypertrophy in 54.1%, and allergic rhinitis in 68.1%. Open bite and class II malocclusions were detected in approximately 30% of the children, and posterior crossbite in 25%. More than half of the mouth-breathing children had a normal inter-arch relationship in the sagittal (59.3%), vertical (53.0%) and transversal planes (75.1%). The chi-square analysis detected a non-significant association between oral breathing and malocclusion. Conclusions: Most of the evaluated oral breathing children presented a normal dental relationship in the vertical, transverse and sagittal planes. The association between Angle class II, open bite and crossbite and type of nasal obstruction was not significant.