Abstract

Dr. Anju Singh, BDS (H), MDS and Dr. Konark BDS (H), MDS*

ABSTRACT

Aim: The present study was conducted to study the prevalence of oral habits in 5 to 12 year old children in Patna Bihar, India. Methods: A total of 1327 school children aged 5 to 12 years reporting to the department of pedodontics were selected for the study. A thorough history was obtained on a specially designed proforma and presence or absence of oral habits like thumb/finger sucking, tongue thrusting, mouth breathing, lip biting, nail biting and bruxism were recorded. The results obtained were processed using Microsoft Office Excel 2010® worksheet and a descriptive statistical analysis was done. Results: The prevalence of oral habits was found to be 31.95% in the present study. Tongue thrusting was the most prevalent oral habit affecting 15.22% of children. The second most common oral habit was mouth breathing habit which was found to be 12.96%. The least common oral habit was lip biting which was found to be 0.38%. Conclusions: Oral habits play very important role as the one of the most common cause of the development of the malocclusion. So, early diagnosis and proper treatment planning of these habits will reduce the occurrence of malocclusion.