Abstract

ROMERO-GUIRLAND, Adelaida et al. Frequency of open bite in children aged 6 to 12 in public schools of Great Asunción in 2019. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2022, vol.20, n.2, pp.85-92. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2022.020.02.85.

Open bite is defined as that occlusion situation in which one or more upper or lower teeth do not reach the occlusion plane because they do not make contact with the antagonists. The objective was to determine the frequency of open bite in children between 6 and 12 years of public schools in Great Asunción. Descriptive observational, cross-sectional study that included 1095 boys and girls from 6 to 12 years old, from public schools in Greater Asunción-Paraguay in 2019 who met the inclusion criteria. Dental evaluations were carried out to determine the presence of open bite by observation and the data was recorded in Excel spreadsheets for later analysis. Of the total of 1095 students, 242 presented open bite (22.1%), 57.8% presented anterior open bite, 35.5% presented posterior open bite and 6.6% complete open bite. The data provided by this research contribute to implement and promote treatments at an early age, which is of vital importance due to the multiple negative consequences of this type of malocclusion in children, because it not only affects the mouth, but also the functionality of the entire system in the human body.

Keywords : open bite; malocclusion; epidemiology; orthodontics.

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