Abstract

BERAUD OSORIO, Doria Isela; SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ, Martha A.; MURRIETA PRUNEDA, José Francisco  and  MENDOZA NUNEZ, Víctor M.. Prevalencia y factores de riesgo de mordida cruzada posterior en niños de 4-9 años de edad en ciudad Nezahualcóyotl. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2004, vol.61, n.2, pp.141-148. ISSN 1665-1146.

Introduction. Posterior cross bite is a malocclusion with a prevalence reported from 5 till 27% of individuals, depending on age and the features of the population studied, due to the existing information at the moment which the risk factors are not specific, the purpose of the present study was to know the prevalence of posterior cross bite and the potential factors of risk which may cause its appearance (ectopic dental eruption, mouth breathing, finger sucking, occlusal disturbances, and age). Material and methods. It was carried out a cross-section study in a population of 1 000 children from 4 till 9 years old in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl (a suburb of Mexico City), which were undergone to intraoral examination assessing occlusion and functional analysis. Univariate and logistic regression analyses were executed with the statistical software SPSS version 10.0. Results. The prevalence of posterior cross bite was 11.3%, with the following breakdown: 5.4% having unilateral cross bite; 1.5% having bilateral cross bite; 4.8% being affected one tooth only; in the sex structure more prevalence in boys was observed. The factors of risk, which showed statistical significance, were: ectopic eruption, occlusal interference, and group age. Using multivariate analysis, it was observed that ectopic eruption and occlusal interference are the more important risk factors (P < 0.001). Conclusion. Prevalence of posterior cross bite is high and the greatest dependency is produced by ectopic eruption and occlusal interferences, being necessary the early detection and correction of any abnormalities in the tooth occlusion, which would allow correcting disturbances in the dent facial growth.

Keywords : Malocclusion; posterior cross bite; risk factors; epidemiology of tooth occlusion.