The Prevalence of Major Types of Occlusal Anomalies among Saudi Middle School Students.

INTRODUCTION Malocclusion is the most common dental anomaly among children and adolescents. Accordingly, this study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of major types of occlusal anomalies in permanent dentition among Saudi Arabian middle school adolescent students seeking orthodontic treatment in Jeddah. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sample comprised 150 males and 150 females with mean age of 14.25 (±1.09) for both males and females. Data were registered using the Bjork method. RESULTS The results of the study showed that postnormal occlusion, prenormal occlusion, and bimaxillary protrusion represented 22, 14.7, and 8.3% of the studied sample respectively. Moderate and severe overjet accounted for 24.7 and 5.7% and for overbite 28 and 13% respectively. Midline deviation was detected in 25.3% of the sample. Mild, moderate, and severe maxillary and mandibular crowding represented 10, 27.3, and 10% and 13, 40, and 9.7% respectively. CONCLUSION The prevalence of occlusal anomalies was 90% and some occlusal anomalies were higher in females. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE The prevalence of occlusal anomalies in Saudi Arabian middle school students necessitates the demand for obtaining baseline data for planning orthodontic services.