Relationship between malocclusions, oral habits and treatments in paediatric patients in the field of interceptive orthodontics at the Dr. René Puig Bentz School of Dentistry, Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña

Dental malocclusions are considered a public health problem. On a worldwide scale, according to the WHO, malocclusions occupy the 3rd place in oral health problems. In Latin America, according to the Pan American Health Organization, the figures exceed 85% of incidence and prevalence in the population. It is estimated that between 20 and 30 million children in Latin America suffer from some type of dentomaxillofacial anomaly.
The study was a descriptive observational, non-experimental, cross-sectional study. A study and synthesis of clinical records of patients who met the inclusion criteria between 2010 and 2024 was carried out. The presence of malocclusions (sagittal, vertical, transversal and dental crowding), deforming habits and treatments carried out were evaluated. The sample consisted of a total of 201 pediatric patients between 4 and 12 years of age. A database was created in Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets, where all the information was stored. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 25 (SPSS) program was used for data processing and analysis. Chi-square tests were also applied.
Of the 201 patients who participated in the study, 88 were male (43.78%) and 113 were female (56.21%). It was observed that class I was the predominant type of malocclusion in the sagittal direction with 110 (54.73%) of the patients, class II in 51 (25.37%) of patients and class III bite in 22 (10.95%). In the transversal direction, posterior crossbite was the predominant type with 23 patients (11.44%) and the least observed type was scissor bite with 1 (0.5%) patient. Vertically, anterior open bite was the predominant type with 73 (36.32%) patients and the least observed type was anterior and posterior open bite with 1 (0.5%) patient. The predominant type of crowding was mild with 66 (32.84%) patients and the least observed type was severe with 10 (4.98%) patients. The main deforming habit was digital suction with 97 (48.26%) patients. It was observed that the majority treatment was the placement of the Habit Inhibitor with 112 (55.72%) patients.
According to the results compiled, the hypothesis of this research is accepted, which refers that the vertical malocclusion that is present in most of the patients seen in the Dr. René Puig Bentz Dental Clinic is anterior open bite and the most frequent treatment is the habit inhibitor.