Oral habits in a population of Albanian growing subjects

Aim The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of oral habits in an Albanian population of schoolchildren. Materials and methods Study design: A sample of 2617 subjects, aged 7-15, was examined by clinical observation without radiograms. The sample comprised 1257 males and 1360 females, with no history of orthodontic treatment. Aestethical frontal and profile analysis, intraoral and functional analysis were performed. Statistics: Gender and age differences were compared by chi-square test. The relationship between malocclusions and oral habits was assessed by t-test and the level of significance was assessed at 0.01. Results The findings indicated that oral habits were present in 2225 subjects (85.0%), 1103 males (87.7%) and 1121 females (82.4 %); the most frequent oral habit was pacifier sucking (30%) and it was mostly present in the 7-11 years group. It was observed a significant correlation between oral habits and dental malocclusions, open bite, altered overjet and maxillary contraction. Conclusion The high number of oral habits observed in the studied sample suggest that prevention strategies adopted in other countries could be successfully integrated in the development of an effective national programme in Albania aimed at reducing malocclusion risk factors.