Introduction:

with the reduction of dental caries in adolescents, attention has been directed towards other problems such as malocclusions, which are the result of the morphological and functional abnormality of the bone, muscle and dental components and which create a functional and aesthetic problem for the individual. Diagnostic criteria are important for planning prevention and care activities.

Objective:

to determine the prevalence of malocclusions in the studied population and to describe the behavior of the components of the Dental Aesthetic Index according to sex.

Methods:

a descriptive, cross-sectional research was conducted on 146 12-year-old students from “Eduardo Anoceto” Urban Elementary School in Santa Clara between September and July 2010.

Results:

the prevalence of malocclusions was 58.2x100 students in need of treatment. Defined malocclusion was present in 19,8x100 adolescents, severe in 9,6x100 and very severe in 28,8x100. A higher prevalence of defined malocclusion was found in males and in severe and very severe females. Increased maxillary anterior protrusion predominated, followed by lower anterior irregularity and alteration of the antero-posterior molar relationship.

Conclusions:

there was a high prevalence of malocclusions with predominance of very severe, followed by defined malocclusion; there were no significant differences for the sexes. The most frequent malocclusion was the increased anterior protrusion.

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