Prevalence of Malocclusion Among School Children in Benin City, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of malocclusion in Benin City. A total of 441 school children, 229 males and 212 females of mean age 13.52 years ± 1.83 who had no previous history of orthodontic treatment were assessed for occlusal, space and dental anomalies. Angle's classification was used to assess buccal sagittal relationships. The results showed that 15.9% of the subjects had normal occlusion, 80.7% had Angle's class I and 1.1% had Angle's class II div 1, 0.5% had Angle's class II div 2 and 1.8% Angle's class III malocclusion. Increased overjet and overbite was observed in 24.7% and 9.8% respectively. Anterior open bite was present in 4.1% while crossbite was found anteriorly and posteriorly in 7% and 4.5% respectively. Crowding in the upper (11.1%) and lower anterior segment (12%) were similar while spacing was more prevalent in the upper (29.9%) than the lower anterior segment (10.7%) with midline diastema present in 19.5%. The occlusal traits were not influenced by gender difference (P>0.05). The survey revealed predominance of Class I malocclusion among Nigerian children in Benin City with their occlusal traits comparable to those reported from other Nigerian geo-political regions.