Prevalence of bad oral habits and it،s relation with age in a sample of school students in Al-Mahmoodia city

Abstract

BackgroundOral habits should be of primary clinical concern to orthodontist because they may cause malocclusion and interfere with treatment progress.Materials and Methods:A total of 60 patients were selected from students of relatively fair socioeconomic status background taken from primary, secondary and high schools of which a questionnaire and clinical examination to certify he presence of oral habits and examination of the types of malocclusion.ResultsGender differences was shown between males and females were females show greater number than males in digit sucking, lip biting, while males were greater in tonque thrust, mouth breathing, bad oral habits seen most likely of all kinds in any age range of (12-18),and most common type is lip biting then mouth breathing then digit sucking.ConclusionDigit sucking continued to decrease with age, tonque thrust increased with age until the age of 12 years where it start to decrease.