Sucking habits: prevalence, contributing factors and their relation to anterior open bite, overjet, posterior cross bite in 4 to 5 year old Kuwaiti children
Date
2001
DOI
Authors
Ali, Jaber A.
Version
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Purpose: A review of the literature on the prevalence of sucking habits shows that it varies from one population to another. Since this kind of study has never been done in the State of Kuwait, this study was designed to determine the prevalence of sucking habits among Kuwaiti children, determine the influence of cultural factors on the prevalence of sucking habits and to study the effect these habits may have on the primary dentition.
Method: 281 kindergarten students were selected from six different schools from the five districts using a stratified randomized sampling technique. The sample was stratified according to the nationality of the student, age, and sex. Data was obtained using two methods: first, questionnaires, which were distributed to parents of the selected Kuwaiti children aged 4-5 years by the school administration. Second, the clinical examination, which was done in each selected school. The questionnaires included questions about age, sex, birth rank, history and duration of breast & bottle-feeding, parents' education, economic status of the family, stress, and the child's previous or persisting sucking habits, which has been expressed in terms of type of sucking habits (digit or pacifier), and the duration of the habits (in months). Occlusion was assessed with the jaws in centric occlusion using the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need (IOTN) to perform the clinical examinations. In each case, the examiner was blind to the questionnaires. The presence of malocclusion was recorded according to the following traits: posterior cross bite, anterior open-bite, and over-jet.
Results: The study sample consisted of 281 four to five years old children of which these were 140 males (50%) and 141 females (50%). Of the 281 children in the study, 92 (33%) had normal occlusion, 171 (61%) had malocclusion, and 18 (6.5%) had no anterior teeth at the time of the study. The highest percentage of children with normal occlusion (41.9%), as well as for the open bite (28%) were found in the district of Hawalli. The highest percent of children with increase overjet (33.3%) was found in the district of AlJahra. For increase overbite, (15%) was found in the district of Al-A'Sema, and for, the most children in the district of Al-Ahmadi had the most.
Conclusion: sucking habits, which were found in 64% of the 4-5 year-old Kuwaiti children, were found to be significantly related to the anterior open bite, and increased overjet with no appreciable effect on posterior crossbite.
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Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2001 (Health Policy and Health Services Research).
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-62).
Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2001 (Health Policy and Health Services Research).
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-62).
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This work is protected by copyright. Downloading is restricted to the BU community. If you are the author of this work and would like to make it publicly available, please contact open-help@bu.edu.